Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol attends a meeting of the presidential transition committee's senior officials at its office in Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Yonhap |
Korea braces for major overhaul of national policies
By Kang Seung-woo
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol urged his transition team, Tuesday, to bolster pre-emptive and resolute efforts to achieve innovative growth, while focusing on pragmatism and the national interest to address polarization and a demographic cliff the country faces. He also urged the subcommittees of his transition team to step up cooperation to achieve those goals.
"I hope that the transition committee can set clear goals and achieve intended results through cooperation among divisions," he said while presiding over the meeting with heads of subcommittees on his transition team.
"With the education and labor systems of the era of heavy and chemical industries half a century ago, people cannot respond effectively to the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution with scientific and technological hegemony."
He said that polarization will be eased "when growth is achieved through the advancement of the industrial structure, helped by securing cutting-edge science and technology."
Yoon also stressed close discussions between subcommittees, saying that the state agenda established by the transition committee is a blueprint for the new government.
"In the end, we have no choice but to advance the industrial structure, so I want the subcommittee in charge of the economy and the one dealing with science and education to communicate with each other systematically," he said.
Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, the transition team wrapped up receiving policy briefings from 53 ministries and government organizations, signaling a major departure from some of the Moon Jae-in administration's policies ― in particular, an approach to curbing increased housing prices.
Many voters, including those in their 20s and 30s, turned away from the Moon administration and the ruling party in the March 9 presidential election.
The transition committee said it was considering abolishing or curtailing laws designed to protect tenants, which it said were causing confusion in the property market.
The so-called "three tenant-protection laws" that took effect in July 2020 allow tenants to extend their two-year "jeonse" contracts for another two years, prevent landlords from raising jeonse deposits by up to 5 percent and require them to report actual rent prices to the local government. Jeonse is a two-year, Korean-style deposit lease.
However, the passage of the controversial laws triggered a supply shortage, as homeowners chose to move in and existing tenants exercised their right to renew their contracts, leading eventually to a sharp hike in jeonse prices.
"The incoming government is considering revising or abolishing the tenant-protection law," Shim Kyo-eon, a real estate professor as Konkuk University who heads the property subcommittee, said during a briefing.
Some real estate market watchers warn that the new administration needs to focus on making up for the laws by fine-tuning them rather than drastically abolishing them, out of concerns over unforeseen side effects.
"We will come up with measures to minimize impacts on the market," Shim said.
Also, any revision to the laws needs consent from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) which holds 172 of the 300 National Assembly seats. The party made clear its opposition to the transition team's announcement, Tuesday.
"Based on the national consensus over the side effects of the laws, we will try to persuade the DPK to cooperate on their revision," Shim added.
The Yoon administration is expected to accelerate efforts to ease regulations on owners of multiple homes.
There have been growing complaints against the Moon administration's real estate policies, as skyrocketing housing prices have driven up taxes on homeowners and raised costs for people who seek to rent or buy homes. Along with the tax, the comprehensive real estate tax is likely to be subject to revision.
"We need to check carefully if it is right to impose regulations on the ownership of multiple homes," Yoon said Friday, after making a rare appearance at the policy briefing session from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Currently, those who own two or more homes face a capital gains tax of up to 75 percent when they sell a home. In that respect, there have been growing calls for the government to cut the tax, which could allow owners to sell properties and bring down prices.
In addition, the new government is expected to ease rules on reconstruction and redevelopment, as pledged by Yoon during the campaign. However, amid concerns that ill-considered deregulation may have a negative effect on housing prices, there are some calls within the transition committee to slow down the plan.
