President Lee Jae-myung's job approval rating has slipped into the 30% range. In a Realmeter poll released on the 31st, positive assessments came to 38.9%, the lowest since he took office and the seventh consecutive weekly decline. Negative assessments stood at 58.7%, 19.8 percentage points higher than positive ones. Public disaffection with government policy has surfaced as falling approval.
Behind the decline lies a string of policy missteps. Regulations on leveraged exchange-traded funds sent the stock market swinging sharply, deepening frustration among people in their 40s and 50s, a core base of support. Distrust of the police, stirred by the controversy over abolishing supplementary investigative authority and by a disappearance case on Jeju, as well as the conflict over the rejection of a Supreme Court justice nominee, also heightened public unease. Above all, the government pushed ahead with tax changes and lending curbs before spelling out any housing supply plan, inflaming public sentiment on property. When concerns about side effects mounted even before the tax revision took effect, the ruling party called for changes, and in the latest cabinet reshuffle the ministers of economy and finance and of land, infrastructure and transport — both responsible for housing policy — were replaced.
Yet the president appears to read the situation differently. Shortly after the reshuffle, Lee wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he would "without fail correct an unfair and unreasonable tax system that has been shown to encourage speculation, if only in the name of tax justice," and that he would "root out ruinous real estate speculation by whatever means necessary." He also said he would mobilize the full capacity of the state to deliver housing quickly, but the emphasis of his message still falls on a war on speculation. It can also be read as a signal that the tax revision will proceed as planned.
The reasons for the loss of governing momentum must be identified correctly. Tinkering at the edges while leaving the basic direction of policy intact will not win back a public that has turned away. It has been confirmed repeatedly that home prices cannot be curbed through demand-side restrictions alone, such as heavier holding taxes and tighter lending. Lee has raised the prospect of falling home prices, citing high interest rates, loan delinquencies, a surge in foreclosure auctions and large-scale housing supply. But with apartment prices even in Seoul's Gangbuk area setting record highs, few will sell their homes or hold off on buying on the strength of that. The government should conduct a full review of its property tax revision and move quickly to put forward workable supply measures, including easing rules on redevelopment and the rebuilding of aging apartment complexes and shortening permit timelines through cooperation with local governments. Stopgap fixes and warnings to the market cannot restore lost confidence in policy.
