Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon accuses President Lee of “self-deception” on housing
Version 2: Additional outlets, including Kukmin Ilbo and a second Seoul Economic Daily item, carried the same exchange, while the president has still not responded to the mayor’s remarks.
In short
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon posted a Facebook message on Oct. 6 attacking President Lee Jae-myung’s real estate messaging, saying the president “repeats self-deception while ignoring even the facts that exist” and that “the real estate hell citizens suffer will only get longer.” Oh disputed Lee’s claim that year-on-year increases in housing permits and construction starts in Seoul and the capital region came from a government “speed war,” attributing them instead to Seoul’s restoration of redevelopment projects, and urged the president to admit the past year’s policy failure.
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Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon posted a message on Facebook on Oct. 6 criticising President Lee Jae-myung’s real estate posts, saying the president “repeats self-deception while ignoring even the facts that exist” and that “the real estate hell citizens suffer will only get longer.” Oh said that reading the president’s posts the previous night made him think it was no longer meaningful to try to persuade him. [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
Oh described the president’s view as narrow: blaming speculators when home prices rise, calling criticism of policy side effects resistance by the vested interests, and treating public complaints as backlash that must be borne in the reform process. He said that with this perception there appeared to be no prospect ahead. [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]
The mayor specifically disputed the president’s account that year-on-year increases in housing permits and construction starts in Seoul and the capital region were the result of a government “speed war.” Oh said it takes an average of more than 10 years from union establishment to construction start and asked whether the president “has a magic lamp” that produces permits and starts within a year. He attributed the results to Seoul’s work restoring redevelopment projects, saying 389 sites covering 430,000 units were cancelled under former mayor Park Won-soon while the city newly designated 214 sites and improved project viability. [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]
Seoul Economic Daily reported Oh’s figures: about 15,000 units started last year, a target of 30,000 units this year, and a plan to start 85,000 units in 85 districts by 2028. Oh said the results were not made overnight but came from rebuilding a collapsed supply base. [ 5 ]
Oh also rejected the president’s characterisation of conservative governments as encouraging speculation and progressive governments as suppressing it, calling it “groundless binary thinking” and saying the president had not moved a step away from viewing real estate through ideology rather than market principles. Responding to the president’s request that the public wait a little, Oh said that was not something to say to people who cannot find a home to move to amid a rent crisis. He closed by urging the president to “honestly admit” the failure of the past year’s real estate policy and to declare courageously that he will correct the wrong direction and start again from the beginning. [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]
The previous night, President Lee had posted on X that he would keep his promise to escape the “real estate speculation republic.” In a follow-up post he said that, apart from conservative governments that encourage speculation, democratic governments each tried to suppress real estate speculation but did not achieve results as targeted, and asked the public to wait a little and judge by the results. [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
Why it matters
The exchange puts the mayor of South Korea’s largest city publicly against the president over housing supply, the item on which Lee’s own posts asked the public to judge the government by results. The documents frame the dispute around who is responsible for permits and construction starts, a measure the president cited as evidence of progress and the mayor cited as Seoul’s own work.
Key facts
- Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon posted a Facebook message on Oct. 6 criticising President Lee Jae-myung’s real estate-related posts on social media. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
- Oh said the president repeats “self-deception” while ignoring facts, and that the “real estate hell” citizens face will only get longer. [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- Oh disputed that year-on-year rises in permits and construction starts in Seoul and the capital region came from a government “speed war”, attributing them to Seoul’s restoration of redevelopment projects. [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- Oh said 389 sites and 430,000 units were cancelled under former Seoul mayor Park Won-soon, and that the city newly designated 214 sites. [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- Oh gave last year’s construction starts as about 15,000 units, a target of 30,000 units this year and a plan for 85,000 units in 85 districts by 2028. [ 5 ]
- Oh urged the president to admit the failure of the past year’s real estate policy and to declare a restart from the beginning. [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- President Lee posted on X the previous night that he would keep his pledge to escape the “real estate speculation republic” and asked the public to wait a little and judge by results. [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Oh Se-hoon is the mayor of Seoul and posted a Facebook message on Oct. 6 criticising the president’s real estate posts. [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- President Lee Jae-myung posted real estate-related messages on X the previous night. [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- Oh rejected the link between a government “speed war” and the rise in permits and construction starts, crediting Seoul’s redevelopment restoration instead. [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- Oh called on the president to admit the failure of the past year’s real estate policy and to change direction. [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
Still unclear
- Whether the increases in permits and construction starts resulted from the government’s measures or from Seoul’s redevelopment work is disputed. The documents carry each side’s competing claims and give no independent accounting of the figures.
- No response from the president or the presidential office to Oh’s Facebook post appears in the documents. Only the president’s earlier X posts are reported.
- The exact times of Oh’s Facebook post and of the president’s X posts are not given. Documents say only that the president posted the previous night and that Oh posted on Oct. 6.
- One business outlet’s headline concerns Oh’s criticism of the president, but its article text reports a separate National Assembly hearing on the Supreme Court. The article text appears to belong to a different story, so only the headline could be used.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- President Lee Jae-myung posts messages on X reaffirming his pledge to escape the “real estate speculation republic”, saying democratic governments had tried to suppress speculation but did not meet their targets, and asking the public for patience and to judge by results. [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- Kukmin Ilbo carries a headline reporting Oh’s criticism of the president over real estate. [ 1 ]
- Newsis carries a headline reporting Oh’s “self-deception” criticism of the president’s social media posts. [ 2 ]
- Yonhap and Chosun Ilbo report Oh’s Facebook post and his call for the president to admit the failure of the past year’s real estate policy. [ 3 , 4 ]
- Seoul Economic Daily reports Oh’s post with his construction-start figures: about 15,000 units last year, a 30,000-unit target this year and 85,000 units in 85 districts by 2028. [ 5 ]
- SBS News reports Oh’s criticism of the president and the president’s earlier X posts asking for patience. [ 6 ]
- Seoul Economic Daily publishes a second item contrasting the president’s “escape the real estate speculation republic” line with Oh’s criticism. [ 7 ]