Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Real estate issues engulf Moon's top aides
Former presidential chief of staff for policy Kim Sang-jo announces his resignation during a press conference at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
By Nam Hyun-woo
President Moon Jae-in's chief of staff for policy, Kim Sang-jo, has left Cheong Wa Dae in disgrace due to a rental property controversy, marking the latest case of top presidential aides leaving the presidential office over real estate-related issues.
Along with Kim, a series of top presidential aides for Moon have been replaced after drawing public backlash over similar issues, proving that real estate is one of the most sensitive issues here and that the public will not accept “unfair” property transactions by politicians and ranking government bureaucrats.
Kim was replaced by Lee Ho-seung on Monday, just a day after media reports were made that Kim raised rent by 14.12 percent for a Seoul apartment he is leasing to a tenant when the contract was renewed last year. The hike came just two days before a new law took effect placing a 5 percent cap on rent increases for leasing contract renewals.
Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of Open Minjoo Party / Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun
Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the minor liberal opposition Open Minjoo Party, who served as Moon's spokesperson from 2018 to 2019, left Cheong Wa Dae after his purchase of a commercial residential building stirred a public backlash.
Kim purchased the building in Seoul's southern Heukseok-dong for 2.57 billion won ($2.27 million) in July 2018 while residing in an official residence for Cheong Wa Dae staffers.
It was found that he took out a 1 billion won loan for the purchase, and suspicions also arose that he had exploited confidential information about development plans in the area of the purchased property. He finally resigned in March 2019, but he sold the property for 3.45 billion won after leaving the presidential office, enjoying 880 million won in profit after just 17 months. Earlier this month, he became a National Assembly member as a proportional representative after former Rep. Kim Jin-ai dropped her membership to run in the Seoul mayoral race.
Kim Jo-won, former presidential senior secretary for civil affairs, was also replaced in August last year after becoming mired in a controversy over his apartments.
Then-presidential chief of staff Noh Young-min had recommended ranking Cheong Wa Dae officials having two or more homes to keep only one for the purpose of residence and to sell the rest ― an effort to give the public the impression that Cheong Wa Dae was doing all it could to contain speculative purchasing by those in government ranks. Kim Jo-won had two apartments ― one in Songpa District and one in Gangnam District ― and decided to put the Songpa residence up for sale.
However, he faced criticisms as he listed the apartment for about 200 million won higher than the market value. Amid the controversy, he retained his two homes and left Cheong Wa Dae instead, at the height of a public uproar against the government's housing price policy.
Former presidential chief of staff Noh Young-min speaks during a meeting between the government, the ruling party and Cheong Wa Dae at the National Assembly in Seoul, Dec. 27, 2020. / Yonhap
Noh was also mired in a controversy for his property sale last August. While giving the one-home-per-person guideline to Cheong Wa Dae officials, Noh, who had apartments each in Seoul and Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, decided to sell the lower-valued property in Cheongju.
As this sparked a backlash, he sold his Seoul home as well. Noh resigned from his post in December last year saying he wants to help Moon run state affairs from a zero-base.
These cases involving Moon's top aides have been in contradiction to the administration's struggle to control the soaring housing prices in Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, and have brought about even greater public distrust in the government's real estate policies.