[Anchor]

President Lee Jae-myung asked for public opinion via real-time comments during a cabinet meeting regarding the strengthening of ownership burdens for "ultra-luxury single-home" properties worth billions of won, and what the criteria for such homes should be. It appears the government is considering measures to increase burdens, including property taxes, for ultra-luxury homes.

Reporter Kang Min-u has the story.

[Reporter]

During a cabinet meeting held yesterday morning (July 14) where government ministries were reporting on real estate policies.

President Lee Jae-myung noted that there is social controversy over imposing the same burdens on so-called "smart single-home" properties or ultra-luxury homes worth over 10 billion won as other single-home properties. He made an impromptu suggestion to ask the public through the real-time comment feature on YouTube.

[President Lee Jae-myung: If you agree that 'it would be better to impose a differentiated burden on ultra-luxury homes, even if it is a single home for actual residence,' please press 1. If you disagree, please press 2.]

A few minutes later, the results were in.

[Lim Gi-geun, Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination: Most of the comments are for option 1. (What is the proportion?) It is around the 90% range...]

[President Lee Jae-myung: It seems there is a general consensus on strengthening burdens for ultra-luxury homes, even if they are single homes for actual residence.]

The President also suggested collecting opinions on what the market value threshold for "ultra-luxury homes" should be. He appeared somewhat surprised when told that many comments suggested 3 billion won was appropriate.

[President Lee Jae-myung: That is unexpected. I thought it would be around 5 billion won. (There are also quite a lot of comments for 2 billion won.) 2 billion won is also a lot?]

While there are expectations that strengthening property taxes for ultra-luxury homes will be reviewed, President Lee stated that the claim that taxes are being imposed to control housing prices is not true.

[President Lee Jae-myung: Because taxes are not performing their basic functions, they have become a factor that induces real estate speculation.]

He explained that the primary goal is to correct the distorted current real estate tax system, and that controlling housing prices is a secondary effect.

(Video coverage: Jung Sang-bo, Yoon Hyung | Video editing: Yu Mi-ra)