SEJONG — New Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Hong Ji-sun said housing supply must translate into actual construction starts and move-ins rather than remaining a matter of plans and numbers. Hong pledged to speed up permits by launching consultative bodies with Seoul and other local governments in the capital region, while stabilizing the rental market through private long-term rentals and universal public rental housing.
Hong made the remarks at an inauguration ceremony held on the 23rd at the Government Complex Sejong, saying she would "concentrate policy capacity on housing stability, which is most closely tied to people's lives." She added: "Housing supply must not stop at plans and numbers. We will push forward the third-phase new towns and urban housing projects so they lead to actual construction starts and move-ins, and see them through to the end."
Hong also said she would "launch multilayered consultative bodies with local governments in the capital region to establish integrated reviews and a fast track for permits, and settle a cooperative housing supply model in which the central government's institutional support and local autonomy reinforce each other."
As a measure to stabilize the rental market, she proposed expanding private long-term rentals. "We will respond more fundamentally to instability in the rental market," Hong said. "By expanding private long-term rentals, we will create a stable safety net for the market that can absorb swings in the housing cycle and instability in the jeonse (a lump-sum deposit lease) market."
She also expressed a commitment to supporting vulnerable households through expanded public rental housing. "Beyond fine-grained support for housing-vulnerable groups, we will activate universal public rental housing so that more non-homeowners, including young adults and newlyweds, can live securely in quality homes at appropriate rents in good locations such as areas near subway stations," she said.
Hong outlined a plan to nurture regional hub cities for balanced national development. "We will concentrate urban and building exemptions and necessary infrastructure support on major regional hub cities to create new growth hubs that combine jobs and housing," she said. "We will also move quickly on core balanced-development tasks, including the second round of relocating state-run institutions and projects in Sejong and Saemangeum."
Eradicating shoddy construction and illegal subcontracting was presented as another key task. "There must be no cases where illegality and expedience override principles," she said. "We will boldly remove unreasonable practices that remain in the real estate, construction and transport sectors, and carefully fix even the small but long-standing inconveniences people face in daily life."
Hong also said she would support future industries. She plans to take the lead in future mobility, including autonomous driving, urban air mobility and mobile robots, and to grow the construction industry into a new growth sector by applying AI and advanced technologies.
Citing her experience serving in Gyeonggi Province, she stressed the importance of "the field" to ministry staff. "I have had many experiences of seeing how policy changes on the ground," Hong said. "It is not enough for the central government to create good systems. Local governments and the private sector must be able to actually carry them out, and people must be able to feel the change — only then is a policy complete." She added: "Respecting one another and growing together, I will work with you to produce changes and results that the public can feel."
