▲ Nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Hong Ji-sun
Hong Ji-sun, nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, responded today (Sept. 5) to opposition criticisms that she purchased an apartment in Seoul through "yeong-geul" (borrowing to the absolute limit) by taking out a mortgage loan and borrowing money from her in-laws, explaining that it was "for stable owner-occupation and not for the purpose of capital gains."
In an explanatory statement distributed to the press today, Nominee Hong stated, "The apartment in question was purchased for actual residence in March 2025, while I was serving as the vice mayor of Namyangju, before the launch of the current administration, and I have actually been living there since."
Earlier, the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Eun-hye stated that when Nominee Hong purchased an apartment in Sindorim-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul, jointly with her spouse for 1.005 billion won in May 2025, Hong secured 367 million won through a mortgage loan, while her spouse borrowed 170 million won from her mother.
Lawmaker Kim's office pointed out that the current market price of the apartment is around 1.41 billion won, meaning Hong purchased the apartment with approximately 460 million won in cash and gained around 400 million won in market value in just over a year. They noted that this constitutes a "yeong-geul purchase," which runs counter to the current administration's real estate policy stance of regulating excessive loans.
In response, Nominee Hong explained that she had been living on a jeonse (lump-sum deposit) lease in Dangsan-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, since May 2021, and purchased the Sindorim apartment—not far from her previous residential area—taking into consideration the commuting distance to her workplace in Namyangju and her spouse's workplace in Seohae-gu, Incheon.
Nominee Hong stated, "The purchase of the housing was carried out during the process of relocating residences for stable owner-occupation with my dual-income wife, and its nature is different from purchasing a house for the purpose of market capital gains."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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