Lee So-young, the nominee for minister of SMEs and startups, owned a single apartment in Seoul that she rented out for at least seven years while living on a jeonse lease in her own constituency, records show. A string of such cases among second-term cabinet picks under the Lee Jae-myung administration has raised questions about whether the government's push to center housing policy on owner-occupancy matches conditions on the ground.
According to Lee's parliamentary asset disclosures obtained by the office of People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Han-hong, Lee was renting out an 84.9-square-meter apartment registered in her name in Hongje-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, as of August 2020. At the same time, she was living in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, under a jeonse lease. 2020 was the year Lee won her first term as a lawmaker representing the Uiwang-Gwacheon district in Gyeonggi Province.
Lee was still renting out the Seodaemun-gu apartment she owns and living on a jeonse lease in Uiwang as of 2026, meaning she held a single home she did not live in for at least seven years.
Earlier, Lee Hyoung-il, the nominee for deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, faced similar allegations that he rented out a Gwacheon apartment slated for rebuilding while living on a jeonse lease himself.
With such cases surfacing one after another among the administration's second-term cabinet picks, concerns are growing that the government's owner-occupancy-centered housing policy may be less effective than intended. Given how widespread jeonse is in South Korea's housing market, critics say the policy direction fails to reflect the range of living arrangements and could impose an excessive tax burden on owners of a single home who do not live in it.
The government had earlier proposed scaling back tax benefits for such owners but retreated in the face of strong opposition. A tax revision plan announced on the 3rd of last month would have lowered the basic deduction on the comprehensive real estate holding tax for owners of a single home they do not occupy to 900 million won from the current 1.2 billion won, while raising the cap on the year-on-year increase in their tax burden to 200% from 150%. For owner-occupiers of a single home, by contrast, the basic deduction was to be raised to 1.4 billion won from 1.2 billion won, strengthening tax benefits for those living in the homes they own. As objections mounted over an excessive tax burden and a possible chilling effect on the rental market, the government scrapped the original plan. Under the final government proposal, the basic deduction for owners of a single home they do not occupy reverts to the current 1.2 billion won from the proposed 900 million won, and the cap on the tax burden increase stays at 150%. The basic deduction for owner-occupiers, however, still rises to 1.4 billion won as originally planned, preserving the policy's owner-occupancy focus.
Separately, critics noted that Lee sponsored no bills falling under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups during her time in the National Assembly. The presidential office, in announcing her nomination, had said she "actively pursued legislation to support startups and small business owners."
"Four of the 10 bills the nominee sponsored were in the climate and environment field, while bills under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups numbered zero," Yoon said. "It is questionable what basis the presidential office had for announcing that the nominee pursued legislation to protect small business owners." He added that he would "thoroughly examine during the confirmation hearing whether the nominee has the expertise appropriate for minister of SMEs and startups."
The ruling and opposition parties have tentatively agreed, through talks between the ranking members of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee, to hold Lee's confirmation hearing on the 15th.
