The People Power Party (PPP), embroiled in turmoil over its nomination process, has unveiled "half-price jeonse (a Korean lease system requiring a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent) in Seoul and the greater capital area" as its top pledge for the June 3 local elections. The move is seen as a strategy to win public sentiment by directly targeting the Lee Myung-jae government's real estate policies.
PPP Chairman Jang Dong-hyuk held a press conference on Thursday at a large newly built apartment complex in Mapo-gu, Seoul, to announce the party's housing pledges under the banner "Freedom to Own a Home."
The PPP plans to first roll out "half-price jeonse" in Seoul and then expand it across the entire capital region, supplying long-term jeonse housing at 50% of surrounding market prices to ease the interest burden on homeless renters. "This can be supplied through local government public housing and rental housing coordination committee deliberations, without central government administrative procedures or legislative amendments," Jang said.
The party also pledged a "childbirth-linked housing loan" program offering newlyweds ultra-low-interest housing loans at less than 1% annually, with interest and principal reductions based on the number of children born. Under the plan, the state and central government would cover the full interest for one child, one-third of the principal for two children, two-thirds of the principal for three children, and the full principal for families with four or more children.
Additional pledges include expanding monthly rent tax credits, adding housing management fees to tax credit eligibility, increasing youth monthly rent subsidies in both amount and scope, and exempting stamp duties on jeonse deposit loans. Jang had previously signaled the housing pledges, saying, "The government's real estate measures have locked up jeonse supply, causing transaction volume to drop 26% year-on-year."
Meanwhile, the PPP primary race has been thrown into flux after a court accepted an injunction filed by Chungbuk Governor Kim Young-hwan to suspend the effect of his exclusion from the nomination process. "There is no scenario in which I do not run in this local election," Kim said Thursday. "I ask the party leadership and the nomination management committee to give me the opportunity to participate in the primary."
The court's ruling in Kim's favor has also raised the possibility of changes in the Daegu mayoral primary landscape. Since the court acknowledged procedural flaws in Kim's exclusion, observers say that if a similar injunction filed by National Assembly Vice Speaker Joo Ho-young is also accepted, his return to the primary would be likely. The possibility that former Korea Communications Commission Chairperson Lee Jin-suk, who was also excluded, could rejoin the primary has also been raised.
To contain the chaos caused by the court's intervention in the nomination process, the PPP on Thursday tapped four-term lawmaker Park Deok-heum, who represents Boeun, Okcheon, Yeongdong, and Goesan in Chungbuk, as the new central party nomination committee chair, succeeding former chair Lee Jeong-hyun.