Top gov't officials criticized over real estate investments

From left are Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Lee Eog-weon, Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Gov. Lee Chan-jin, and Vice Minister for Land and Infrastructure Lee Sang-kyeong. Yonhap

The top officials behind the recently introduced strict housing regulations are facing heavy criticism for double standards, as their personal real estate dealings appear to contradict President Lee Jae Myung's push to curb home prices, market watchers said Wednesday.

Among them are Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Lee Eog-weon, Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Gov. Lee Chan-jin and Vice Minister for Land and Infrastructure Lee Sang-kyeong.

The FSC has played a key role in tightening mortgage rules, while the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) has expanded the designation of property speculation-prone zones.

As the country’s financial watchdog, the FSS is tasked with ensuring that housing policies are faithfully observed in the market.

Within just six months of taking office, the Lee administration has introduced three major housing regulations — on June 27, Sept. 7, and Oct. 15 — making it more difficult to purchase homes, particularly in Seoul and the surrounding areas.

Against this new regulatory backdrop, the FSC chairman has come under fire for purchasing a high-end apartment in Gaepo-dong, an affluent neighborhood in Seoul's Gangnam District.

While his acquisition may have been legal, critics argue it is ethically questionable for a high-ranking official who is expected to meet elevated standards of conduct.

A career bureaucrat, Lee purchased an aging 58-square-meter apartment for 850 million won ($594,600) in 2013.

He did not pay entirely in cash and instead took out loans totaling 350 million won and relied on Korea’s unique lease system, jeonse, to finance the purchase shortly before being posted to Korea's permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Because he was stationed overseas, Lee did not live in the Seoul apartment for some time — an unintended outcome that remains controversial here, given the high demand for housing in the nation's capital.

The unit was later redeveloped, and now he owns a brand-new, 125-square-meter apartment, currently valued at around 5 billion won. If sold, it could net him over 4 billion won in capital gains.

The FSS governor is also under scrutiny for owning two homes in Umyeon-dong, another upscale area in Seoul’s Seocho District. Each property is about 130 square meters in size. According to the governor, one serves as his residence, while the other is used as a private office.

He pledged to sell the second property “within a month or two,” but only after the issue was raised during a National Assembly audit on Tuesday.

The MOLIT vice minister also sparked public outrage for his dismissive comment in a YouTube appearance, in which he told frustrated would-be homebuyers to “just save money and buy after prices stabilize.”

The anger intensified after it was revealed that his wife had purchased a home in 2024 using a gap investment strategy — a method where buyers minimize their own capital by leveraging large jeonse deposits, while hoping for future property appreciation.

The 117-square-meter home was purchased for 3.3 billion won and is now valued at around 4 billion, potentially earning the Lee family about 600 million won in capital gains.

“While ordinary citizens are facing tighter restrictions on loans, policymakers themselves are expanding their real estate holdings through leverage, which undermines the fairness of policy,” Kwon Dae-jung, a real estate professor at Hansung University, said.