Lee Hyoung-il, the nominee for deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, said on the 15th that he was sorry over questions about the apartment he owns but does not live in, adding that his situation "falls short of what the public expects."
Lee made the remarks in response to questions from Rep. Park Soo-young of the People Power Party at a confirmation hearing before the National Assembly's Finance, Economy and Planning Committee. Lee has previously said South Korea needs to build a housing culture centered on living in the homes people own.
Park said Lee has held an apartment in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, since buying it in 2009, but has lived there for a total of only four months — two months in 2012 and two months in 2018. Park took particular issue with the fact that Lee, while serving as first vice minister of economy and finance, led work on a tax overhaul that would set different basic deductions under the comprehensive real estate holding tax for owners who live in their homes and those who do not. Lee bought the apartment for 420 million won in 2009, and it is now valued at about 2 billion won.
"If your policy conviction is that housing should be for living in, shouldn't your own life have followed that?" Park said. "If you bought it with a tenant's jeonse (a Korean lease system requiring a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent) deposit covering part of the price, held it for 17 years and actually lived there for only four months, how is that different from gap investment — buying a home while a tenant's jeonse deposit covers most of the price?"
Lee replied, "Whatever the reasons, I am sorry about the controversy over my not living in my home and about the ways this falls short of what the public expects." He said, however, that he had bought the apartment to live in rather than as a speculative investment.
"Around January 2009, I was notified that I would be working at the presidential office, so I had to move somewhere within commuting distance," Lee said. "In February that year I first moved into Gwacheon on a jeonse lease, and in April I bought an apartment that fit my means, but I could not move in right away because I was already living in a leased home." He added that at the time of purchase the building, unlike now, had no elevator or underground parking, but that many four-person households with elementary school children lived nearby. "I bought it to actually live in," he said.
Asked whether he had in fact lived there for the four months, Lee said, "I never moved my registered address anywhere else, and there was nowhere else for me to live other than that home." He said, "It is a clear fact that I lived there." He added, "Since residence is judged on the basis of resident registration, if there is no problem with the resident registration records, it has to be treated as residence."
