"Restriction of Freedom of Residence, Opposition to Lifting Greenbelt"…How Is the Democratic Party Reacting?

[Anchor]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has demanded a review of the government's tax reform and housing supply measures, criticizing them as "violating even the freedom of choice of residence." He repeatedly voiced opposition to lifting greenbelt restrictions and utilizing the Yongsan Park Children's Garden. While the Democratic Party urged the Seoul city government to cooperate, voices calling for revisions to the government's plan are growing even from within the party.

Here is a report by Park Jae-yeon.

[Reporter]

Today (August 14), the day after the government announced its August 13 real estate measures, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon attended a People Power Party floor strategy meeting.

Regarding the government's tax reform plan, Mayor Oh argued that "judging citizens as speculators simply based on whether they actually reside in the property" and criticized it as "a violent tax hike that even infringes upon the freedom to move and reside elsewhere."

[Oh Se-hoon / Mayor of Seoul : A comprehensive re-examination must begin with this obsession with actual residency policies that shake the leasing market and increase public suffering.]

Mayor Oh reaffirmed his opposition to lifting greenbelt restrictions and utilizing the Yongsan Park Children's Garden for housing supply, calling them "unnecessary actions and unwise judgments."

The People Power Party also launched a relentless offensive, claiming that the government's tax reform plan is a tax bomb and that the supply measures are just deceptive numbers games.

The Democratic Party countered that the People Power Party is blocking the passage of legislation to promote housing supply, and urged the Seoul city government to take a forward-looking approach in cooperating with the government's supply measures.

[Han Byung-do / Democratic Party Floor Leader : Does the speed of housing supply increase just by making verbal attacks while failing to fulfill your own responsibilities?]

However, within the Democratic Party, calls for modifications to the tax reform plan continued, particularly centered around lawmakers representing the greater Seoul metropolitan area.

[Min Byung-duk / Democratic Party Lawmaker (MBC Radio 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus') : There are so many inconveniences and grievances. Implementing it so abruptly will definitely cause problems.]

Kim Min-seok, a candidate for party leader, stated, "The abolition of the long-term holding special deduction for single-home non-residents is essentially a tax hike in some aspects, and there are concerns that it could lead to side effects such as forcing tenants out." He added that the party plans to revise and supplement the plan through party-government consultations after the national convention.

(Video by Oh Young-chun, Shin Dong-hwan, Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Park Sun-soo)

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