Senior officials subjected to infringement on personal property

Prime Minister Chung Sye-Kyun, left, President Moon Jae-in, center, and Moon's Chief of Staff Noh Young-min arrive at a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, July 21./Yonhap

By Do Je-hae

It's tough to be a senior official at Cheong Wa Dae or a government ministry these days.

After being pressured to donate their emergency disaster relief fund, they are now being told to sell some of their houses.

These officials, who have often been the subject of public envy for status and job stability, are facing intense pressure to adhere to the one-house-per-person rule recommended by Presidential Chief of Staff Noh Young-min and Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun.

At government ministries, the rule is applicable to director-general level and above. And at Cheong Wa Dae, senior presidential aides have undergone intense scrutiny over how many homes they own. Cheong Wa Dae has said that it will announce the results of Noh's recommendation made earlier this year that senior aides should sell houses they own, other than their main residence, by the end of this month.

Noh himself became a victim of his own recommendation and has put both of his houses, one in the affluent Gangnam district and the other in Cheongju, South Chungcheong Province, up for sale.

The prime minister has ordered government ministries and even local administrations to quickly look into the housing ownership status of high-ranking officials. “Those who own multiple homes will hopefully sell those other than their main residence as soon as possible,” he said during a regular government meeting on COVID-19 held July 8.

It was considered rare for the prime minister to mention the housing issue during a meeting on pandemic response. The remarks were seen to reflect the government's urgency to improve the public's sentiment toward the Moon administration, which has turned negative particularly over missteps in controlling housing prices in recent weeks.

“If senior officials have multiple homes, it will be hard for the people to trust the government's housing policy no matter what,” Chung said.

Chung's remarks are understandable but incorrect for two reasons.

First, more members of the public say that pressuring officials to sell their real estate assets is tantamount to an infringement on the right to own multiple homes. Article 23 of the Constitution guarantees the right of all citizens to own property. From this perspective, questions are rising as to whether it is justifiable for the senior officials to face pressure from their workplace regarding their personal property.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha takes questions during an interpellation session at the National Assembly, July 22. Yonhap

Many Koreans having a tough time purchasing a home in this economy are right to be furious at the Moon administration's incompetence in dealing with soaring housing prices.

Defying Constitution, common sense

But one must remember that these officials are also citizens who have worked hard to get to where they are today. From a common sense point of view, it is laughable that their bosses, the chief of staff or the prime minister, should have any say in their real estate assets.

Take away their workplace titles, and some of them are just citizens who are in the midst of or entering the twilight of their careers, looking out for their post-retirement livelihoods. The situation is better for career government officials who can rely on their pension, but some are from the private sector who have joined the government or Cheong Wa Dae payroll temporarily.

Second, the blame on the public's mistrust in the government's housing policy should not be placed on the senior officials with more than one house.

Some may find the multiple housing ownership irritating, but it is certainly not the fundamental reason for the loss of trust in the government's real estate policy. Even if all of the senior officials ended up owning just one house per person, that will not have a significant impact on how the people feel about this administration's failures and flip-flopping over housing-related issues.

To turn around the failing public sentiment, it would be much more effective to ease the burdens and hurdles faced by many people, including soaring taxes on single house owners, various regulations hampering purchases for would-be home owners, and most importantly the short housing supply in the Seoul Metropolitan region.

Another serious problem is that the ownership of multiple houses has now emerged as one of the key factors in replacing, selecting or promoting a senior official at Cheong Wa Dae and government ministries.

The latest reshuffle of presidential secretaries last week is a case in point. Three out of five aides who were replaced last week were owners of multiple houses.

The presidential office is expected to conduct another reshuffle among a more senior level of aides and also at government ministries in the coming weeks.

The level of expertise and policy competence should be the first and foremost factor. The number of houses one owns is a private matter and has no place in the list of criteria for selecting or retaining a senior official.

It is also upsetting for some people that officials like Kang Kyung-wha, considered one of finest foreign ministers the country has ever had, has become the subject of criticism and media scrutiny just because she owns more than one home.

In the process of reporting how many houses Kang and other senior officials have, details about their personal finance and family matters have been made public as well. This is also an infringement on their right to privacy.