Land minister nominee Hong Ji-sun says housing mobility has become harder, feels 'heavy responsibility'

Hong Ji-sun, the nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said Monday that she feels a "heavy sense of responsibility" over the growing difficulty ordinary citizens face in moving up the housing ladder.

Hong made the remarks in written responses submitted to the National Assembly's Land and Transport Committee ahead of her confirmation hearing. She was asked whether her purchase of an apartment in Sindorim-dong, Guro-gu, using a 300 million won ($223,000) mortgage conflicted with the current government's stance on household debt and mortgage regulation. She said that unlike when she bought the home, the housing market had since overheated in parts of Seoul and the Greater Seoul area, making it "inevitable" to designate regulated zones and tighten lending rules to stabilize the market and manage demand.

Hong and her spouse jointly purchased an apartment in Sindorim-dong, Guro-gu in May 2025 for 1 billion won, taking out a mortgage of 367 million won. Her spouse also borrowed 170 million won from her mother, signing a loan agreement, then amended the contract this year to extend the principal repayment deferral period from one year to three years.

Hong said the extension of the deferral on the loan from her mother-in-law was to cover her child's graduate school tuition.

"My spouse borrowed from her mother in 2025 to pay the interim installment on the apartment, and after our child's enrollment in graduate school from 2026 was confirmed, we amended the contract to extend the principal repayment deferral period to cover tuition and related expenses," Hong said. "Since the loan was taken out last year, we have been remitting monthly interest to the account at the statutory annual rate of 4.6%."

On criticism that her own housing transaction contradicted the policy stance she had previously championed — providing stable housing without excessive reliance on jeonse or loans — Hong said the remarks "were not a denial of the jeonse system or the partial use of loans when purchasing a home." She added that her intent had been "to offer those burdened by housing costs an additional option in the form of long-term, stable public housing, enabling a variety of living arrangements."