President Lee Rebuts Headline Claiming His Housing Plunge Remark Was 'Only True for Gangnam' as "Fake News"

▲ President Lee Jae-myung

President Lee Jae-myung refuted an article headline as "fake news," which reported on his remarks regarding real estate during a Cabinet meeting and framed them as implying that home prices were "plunging" only in Gangnam.

Today (November 4), President Lee shared a link on his social media to an article headlined, "'Home Prices Plunging,' President's Remark Only True for Gangnam... Seoul Rises for 90 Straight Weeks."

At a Cabinet meeting held at the Blue House yesterday (November 3), President Lee stated, "Actual transaction prices in key areas are falling at an astonishing rate. Of course, there are areas that are not, but it is important to clearly inform the public so they can access this accurate data directly."

The article shared by President Lee introduced those remarks and included reactions suggesting that it was difficult to feel a decline in home prices, given that housing prices have been rising across most areas of Seoul excluding the three Gangnam districts (Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa).

In response, President Lee pointed out, "The statement that 'actual transaction prices in key areas are falling at an astonishing rate' cannot be the same as 'plunging.' Even if they meant the same thing, it should not be marked as a direct quote with double quotation marks."

Regarding the headline phrase 'only true for Gangnam,' he also countered, "This implies that remarks about other regions were incorrect, but it is clear that (even in my original remarks) I only mentioned key areas of Seoul, namely Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa."

He then directly criticized, "Since I never said 'home prices across all of Seoul are plunging,' claiming that it was 'only true for Gangnam' is also fake news."

President Lee added, "I hope people look closely at objective data, such as the surge in properties listed across Seoul, the sharp drop in transactions, the prolonged and significant drop in home prices in key areas of Seoul like Gangnam, and the rise in delinquency rates and auction cases."

Following President Lee's social media post, the news outlet revised the headline of the article to: "Is the President's Remark That 'Home Prices Dropped' True?... Seoul Rises for 90 Straight Weeks."

(Photo: Captured from X (formerly Twitter), Yonhap News)

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