Kang Hoon-sik says housing supply signals matter most, land acquisition key to Greater Seoul plan

Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said Sunday that "signals matter most" in housing supply, and called on ruling party regional committee chairs and local government heads to identify residential land that can be developed in the short term to expand housing supply in the Greater Seoul area. He also reaffirmed that the government's real estate tax reform proposal is not final policy and can be revised to reflect public opinion.

Speaking at a senior party-government consultative meeting held at the prime minister's official residence in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, Kang said "dramatically expanding housing supply in the Greater Seoul area is the most difficult challenge, and at the heart of that challenge is securing residential land."

He went on to say that "if ruling party regional committee chairs and local government heads who know their areas well come forward with proposals for securing residential land that can be supplied in the short term, the government and Cheong Wa Dae plan to actively review them."

Kang said signals are paramount in housing supply. "Residential anxiety among the public cannot be resolved through vague promises — it takes concrete plans," he said, adding that "only by clearly presenting a schedule of when, where and how much housing will be delivered can we ease the residential concerns of young people, newlyweds and ordinary citizens."

On the tax reform package the government released Aug. 3, Kang left open the possibility of further adjustments. Citing a position President Lee Jae Myung stated at a Cabinet meeting on Aug. 11, he said the proposal "was not a unilateral announcement of decided policy, but a starting point for hearing public opinion."

He added that "in practice, a wide range of fresh ideas and opinions from the public were submitted during the legislative notice period from Aug. 3 to Aug. 20, and we are not hesitating to reflect reasonable views in the policy."

Kang said the meeting Sunday would be used to share public feedback gathered by the party, the government and Cheong Wa Dae, and to discuss how the tax reform proposal can be finalized as a more rational policy. "Through this opportunity, we must again carefully examine voices from the field and further raise the quality and public acceptability of the policy," he said.

With the regular National Assembly session set to begin soon, Kang also stressed the importance of translating policy into legislation. "The final step in bringing policy into people's lives is legislation," he said, urging the party to "build broad consensus across the ruling and opposition parties so that the necessary bills are passed in a timely manner."

He added that "starting from the election of the new party leader, the party, government and Cheong Wa Dae will together turn the promises we made to the people into results, one by one, and press forward vigorously toward an irreplaceable Republic of Korea."