Cheong Wa Dae Defends Presidential Apartment Sale Amid Opposition Criticism; Real Estate Debate Held Today

[Anchor]

Cheong Wa Dae has repeatedly offered explanations regarding the 1.7 billion won collateral established when President Lee Jae-myung and his spouse sold their apartment. As opposition parties continue to criticize the transaction as a loophole deal, public attention is focused on whether the President will address the issue at today's (July 23) national public debate on real estate.

Reporter Park Yerim has the details.

[Reporter]

Yesterday, Cheong Wa Dae hosted a Q&A-style YouTube broadcast featuring a deputy spokesperson and a real estate professor under the title "The Truth Behind the President's Home Sale."

The broadcast explained that President Lee Jae-myung and his spouse setting a collateral of 1.77 billion won for the buyer while selling their apartment in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, for 2.9 billion won was a "consideration for the buyer" to successfully inherit the membership status of the apartment complex, which is slated for reconstruction.

[Han Moon-do / Professor of Real Estate, Seoul Digital University: If registration is delayed, they cannot receive the occupancy right. Therefore, considering this, the president allowed registration in advance and established collateral upon the balance payment, so you can view it this way.]

[An Gui-ryung / Cheong Wa Dae Deputy Spokesperson: How is this different from a bank loan?]

[Han Moon-do / Professor of Real Estate, Seoul Digital University: Basically, it is the same act, only with different parties involved in the transaction.]

There was also an explanation that the president and his spouse decided not to collect interest for deferring the buyer's balance payment by several months.

When it was pointed out that waiving interest could be deemed a gift, Cheong Wa Dae stated in a separate official release after the broadcast that "gift tax issues will be handled in accordance with relevant regulations."

Late the night before yesterday, Cheong Wa Dae also refuted claims that the buyer had any personal ties as "completely groundless," and noted that the designation of the apartment complex as a leading district for reconstruction took place in November 2024 under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, calling the allegations of preferential treatment in the reconstruction designation "absurd."

The People Power Party criticized the move, stating, "While shackling the public with loan regulations, the president utilized a collateral-based expedient to grant himself a self-exemption through a loophole."

They added that it is "deceitful for the president to bypass the very loan regulations he created."

Amid stringent loan regulations, such "private-to-private collateral transactions" have been utilized in high-end areas such as Gangnam in Seoul.

[Gangnam Real Estate Agent: It has existed for a while. Because loans have been blocked, high-end transactions sometimes involved such arrangements upon mutual agreement, and the president's case has brought it to the surface...]

President Lee is presiding over a national public debate on real estate policy today.

Attention is focused on whether he will express his stance regarding this apartment sale or the loan regulations.

(Photo: Yonhap News)

Reported by Jeong Sang-bo and Ha Ryung | Video by Yu Mira | Graphics by Han Song-yeon
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.