Another Clash Erupts Over "Major Areas of Seoul" Remarks

[Anchor]

President Lee Jae-myung's remarks that housing prices in major areas are dropping at an astonishing rate continue to cause controversy. President Lee cited some media reports and refuted them as "fake news."

Ha Jeong-yeon reports.


[Reporter]

Among the remarks made by President Lee Jae-myung at the Cabinet meeting two days ago on November 3, the media focused on this particular part.

[President Lee Jae-myung (Cabinet meeting on Nov. 3): "Actual transaction prices in major areas are also continuing to fall. And they are dropping at an astonishing rate."]

They pointed out the president's diagnosis by noting that overall housing prices in Seoul have been rising for 90 consecutive weeks.

President Lee singled out one of the news reports and labeled it "fake news."

The article was headlined, "President's Remark on 'Plummeting Housing Prices' Was Only True for Gangnam." He argued that his words, "dropping at an astonishing rate," cannot mean the same thing as "plummeting."

He also said that claiming it was only true for Gangnam implied his remarks about other areas were incorrect, but stated that he was only referring to major areas of Seoul—namely Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa—calling this report fake news as well.

In response to the president's rebuttal, Representative Kim Jae-seop of the People Power Party, representing Seoul's Dobong-A district, asked, "In the president's eyes, are the three Gangnam districts still the only major areas?" Meanwhile, People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok claimed, "It is effectively an admission that cracking down on Gangnam is the goal of real estate policy."

President Lee visited a public redevelopment site in Jangwi-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, and continued to make remarks concerning housing prices.

[President Lee Jae-myung: "In any case, because South Korea faces the fundamental issue of concentration in the capital area, land is limited while the population keeps growing. This clearly has a negative impact on housing prices."]

President Lee called for measures to revitalize public redevelopment while emphasizing rapid housing supply.

(Camera: Jung Sang-bo and Yoon Hyeong | Video Editing: Yoo Mi-ra | Graphics: Han Heung-soo and Park Tae-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.