The People Power Party and the Reform Party are moving toward policy coordination centered on housing. The effort appears aimed at highlighting the conservative opposition's policy credentials by offering alternatives in housing supply, finance and taxation, going beyond criticism of the Lee Jae-myung administration's property policies. On the investigation into a suspected landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone, independent council member Han Dong-hoon and Reform Party council member Lee Jun-seok are also falling in step with the People Power Party, ratcheting up pressure on the government.
Lawmakers from the People Power Party and the Reform Party representing the greater Seoul area held the inaugural meeting of the Metropolitan Housing Innovation Forum at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 30th, formally beginning its activities. People Power Party council member Cho Jung-hoon and Lee serve as the forum's co-chairs, while People Power Party council member Park Soo-min serves as lead research member. Also taking part were People Power Party lawmakers Kwon Young-se, Yoo Eui-dong, Bae Joon-young, Cho Eun-hee, Kim So-hee, Kim Jae-sup, Seo Myung-ok and Choi Soo-jin, along with Reform Party council member Lee Joo-young.
The forum's launch means the two conservative opposition parties have created a framework for joint action on housing shortages, the most pressing livelihood issue. The plan is to examine the side effects of the Lee administration's property policies, focus on regulations covering lending and transactions, redevelopment projects and property taxes, and translate that work into legislation and policy aimed at expanding housing supply in urban centers and restoring the housing ladder for owner-occupier buyers.
"For anyone doing politics in Seoul and the greater metropolitan area, I believe finding answers on housing, at least, is a calling that goes beyond party affiliation," Cho said. "We will listen to voices on the ground, find answers with experts and produce policies that the public can feel."
The two parties signaled their intention to pool their property policy capabilities and win over public opinion in the capital region. The government has promised large-scale housing supply centered on the greater Seoul area, pushing what it calls a "supply at all costs" approach. But public anger over accumulated home price increases and difficulties in the jeonse and monthly rent markets has yet to subside. The opposition's strategy is to counter the government's public-led housing supply by fleshing out plans to stimulate private housing supply and to ease lending rules and taxes, targeting young non-homeowners and swing voters in the capital region.
"In the capital region, the Reform Party and the People Power Party are challengers, not the establishment," Lee said. "If the Democratic Party of Korea, which holds an overwhelming majority of metropolitan seats, cannot check the government's reckless property policies, that role will fall to us."
The forum will hold regular expert seminars on specific topics and operate a policy network involving specialists from academia, finance, real estate, architecture and urban planning. Members will also leave the conference room to visit rebuilding and redevelopment districts, new housing supply sites and areas facing jeonse and monthly rent pressures, hearing directly from residents and market participants. The plan is to link problems identified on the ground with expert analysis to develop workable policy proposals.
The conservative opposition's cooperation is expanding beyond housing into security issues. The People Power Party, the Reform Party and Han, a leading critic of the government, are speaking with one voice in calling for a swift investigation and stern punishment of those responsible for the suspected landmine explosion in the DMZ on the western front. Han and Lee both signed a resolution filed on the same day by People Power Party council member Na Kyung-won, titled a resolution calling for a truth-finding investigation into suspicions that the Lee Jae-myung administration downplayed and covered up the suspected North Korean landmine disaster in the DMZ, and for honoring and supporting the wounded soldiers.
"It is Lee Jae-myung personally, not the Republic of Korea, whose vulnerability over remittances to North Korea was seized on by the North Korean regime," Han wrote on Facebook. "From immediately after the landmine attack on the 21st, the Lee Jae-myung government took a passive and defensive attitude that seemed to hope, by whatever means, that it was not a North Korean landmine attack, or that it would not be revealed as one."
Attention is also turning to whether the conservative opposition's cooperation could develop into an alliance for the 2028 general election. Meeting reporters immediately after the forum event, Lee said: "The deep rift between the People Power Party and the Reform Party until now has been due to political circumstances. If the political wounds heal, there will be more we can do together."
