Ruling party proposes axing taxes for second homes outside Seoul
Tax breaks floated to foster growth in non-Seoul areas in seemingly election-conscious announcement
The ruling People Power Party on Tuesday announced plans to exempt owners of second or additional homes outside Seoul from taxes.
Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, the People Power Party's floor leader, said at a meeting of the party leadership that lifting taxes for buyers of homes in non-capital regions could be a way of fostering an even growth across Korea, whose population is heavily concentrated in Seoul.
"Some bold policy changes are necessary to even out the trend of Seoul-centered growth while the rest of the country is quickly losing population," Kweon said.
According to the ruling party's plans, non-first-time buyers of homes outside Seoul would not be subject to the increase in taxes faced by second-home owners in the capital.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the capital city's population is estimated at 9.6 million as of 2024. That means about a fifth of Korea's 51.7 million are living in Seoul.
The People Power Party's policy proposal on Tuesday is seen as an election-conscious move, with the Constitutional Court due to give its verdict on suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment shortly.
Boosting growth in areas outside Seoul had been a central issue in the policy agendas of both the People Power Party and rival Democratic Party of Korea in the 2024 general election.
In a gathering of the People Power Party's members on Monday, Rep. Kwon Young-se, the party's chair, said his party "has to stay united to claim victory in whatever comes our way" alluding to a possible presidential election.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
2 days ago
- Korea Herald
MCM, Rawrow unveil collaborative travel collection
German luxury brand MCM teamed up with Seoul-based travel gear company Rawrow to release a new collaborative collection aimed at modern travelers. The collection, which launched Thursday through MCM and Rawrow's official global online and offline channels, features two sizes of travel carriers designed for cabin and checked luggage. The products are also available on the online fashion platform Musinsa. Titled 'From Munich to Mars,' the campaign combines MCM's travel heritage with Rawrow's utilitarian design philosophy. The collaboration aimed for futuristic reinterpretation of mobility, balancing precision engineering with practicality. A standout element of the collection is its signature color, Mars Gold, a modern take on MCM's iconic cognac tone. The luggage is constructed with lightweight aluminum and lined with recycled polyester for durability and sustainability. Attention was also paid to details that reflect identities of both brands. MCM's signature Visetos monogram appears on the trolley handle and interior lining. RAWROW added its patented innovations, such as the TT handle for maneuverability, a scale handle to allow travelers to weigh their luggage and a hidden pocket for quick access to passports and tickets.
![[Robert J. Fouser] South Korea's deep political divide](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwimg.heraldcorp.com%2Fnews%2Fcms%2F2025%2F06%2F12%2Fnews-p.v1.20250612.fbdf37056067408098493d80c92a54c3_T1.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
Korea Herald
3 days ago
- Korea Herald
[Robert J. Fouser] South Korea's deep political divide
Lee Jae-myung of the slightly center-left Democratic Party of Korea began his presidency with a whirlwind of activity after winning a decisive victory in the recent presidential election. Though only ten days have passed, the election seems like a distant event. As with other elections, the results offer insight into the current state and future direction of South Korean politics. This was the ninth election held since the 1987 democratic reforms that permitted the direct election of the president to a single five-year term. Since then, no party has won more than two presidential elections in a row, and power has shifted from center-right to center-left groups four times. Similar shifts between parties have occurred in National Assembly elections, which are held every four years. These shifts suggest that South Korean voters are evenly divided. Lee Jae-myung's recent victory underscores this pattern. Going into the election, most polls predicted he would win over 50 percent of the vote, but he ultimately won 49.4 percent. Park Geun-hye is the only presidential candidate since 1987 to win a majority of the vote, having won 51.6 percent in 2012. Left-wing candidate Kwon Young-guk got just under 1 percent of the vote. Combined with Lee's 49.4 percent, center-left candidates earned a total of 50.4 percent. Though this is a majority, it is only slightly above the 50.2 percent that center-left candidates earned in 2022. In contrast, Kim Moon-soo, the leading center-right candidate from the People Power Party, won only 41.2 percent of the vote. This is the second-lowest percentage for a candidate from the established center-right bloc since 1987. Only Hong Joon-pyo did worse in 2017, winning 24 percent of the vote. Controversial right-wing candidate Lee Jun-seok won 8.3 percent of the vote, bringing the total for center-right candidates to 49.5 percent. Though Lee Jae-myung had a large lead over second-place candidate Kim Moon-soo, the combined vote total of center-right candidates has remained close to 50 percent in every election since 1987. In 2022, center-right candidates, including election winner and now disgraced former president Yoon Suk Yeol, garnered 49.4 percent of the vote. In 2017, Moon Jae-in won the election with 40.1 percent, and center-right candidates received 52.2 percent of the vote. These statistics suggest that South Korea is evenly divided between center-right and center-left groups, each dominated by a large party with historical roots. This means elections are decided by a small shift in votes or division within one of the groups. Both occurred in the recent election, helping Lee Jae-myung open a large lead over Kim Moon-soo. The same thing helped Moon Jae-in win in 2017. A look at any map of recent election results explains why neither group can win by a large margin. The results of the 2025 election show the country divided evenly between east and west, with the People Power Party in red on the right and the Democratic Party in blue on the left. There are splashes of red in the Gangnam area of Seoul and in rural areas of North and South Chungcheong Provinces, but most of the area is blue. The Honam region, centered on Gwangju, is deep blue. The east is dominated by red, with the Yeongnam region, centered on Daegu and Busan, being heavily red. This sharp division between Honam and Yeongnam has been a constant in South Korean elections since 1987. Though this division has lessened slightly in recent years, it remains significant at all levels of politics. Democratic Party candidates show strength in Busan and Ulsan, which have attracted residents from around the country. However, People Power Party candidates rarely win anywhere in Honam. The problem for the Democratic Party is that Yeongnam's population is twice that of Honam. Nationally, voters in their 40s and 50s overwhelmingly supported Lee Jae-myung, offsetting Kim Moon-soo's strong support in Yeongnam. Meanwhile, Lee Joon-seok's anti-establishment rhetoric attracted male voters in their 20s and 30s, who supported him in large numbers, confirming the emergence of another generational divide that first appeared in the 2022 presidential election. Ultimately, the election was triggered by the successful impeachment of Yoon Suk-yeol for briefly imposing martial law in December 2024. Although polls showed that 60 percent of voters supported impeachment, Lee Jae-myung received just under 50 percent of the vote. This suggests that established regional and generational divides influenced voters more than the desire to repudiate Yoon by punishing the People Power Party at the ballot box. These deeply entrenched divides are likely to continue to influence South Korean politics for years to come. Robert J. Fouser, a former associate professor of Korean language education at Seoul National University, writes on Korea from Providence, Rhode Island. He can be reached at robertjfouser@ The views expressed here are the writer's own. -- Ed.
Korea Herald
3 days ago
- Korea Herald
Special counsel probes of Yoon couple 'people's demand': presidential office
The presidential office said Thursday that the special counsel investigations into former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee were launched in response to the people's demand. Kang Yu-jung, Lee's spokesperson, told a press briefing that "getting to the bottom of insurrection is the demand of the people, as the results of the presidential election show." The opposition People Power Party said that the special counsel investigations were of an "unprecedented size costing billions of won," with a total of 577 prosecutors and investigators. "The sheer size of the investigations is tantamount to a single district attorney's office," the People Power Party said in a statement Wednesday, saying the Democratic Party of Korea has "created its own district attorney's office." Tuesday's Cabinet meeting approved the ruling Democratic Party-led bills for opening special counsel investigations into the former first couple, with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik asking President Lee Jae-myung to appoint special counsels to lead the investigations. The special counsels would look into allegations that Yoon committed either insurrection or treason by trying to impose martial law on Dec. 3. They would also scrutinize allegations that Yoon's wife Kim, meddled in the People Power Party's nomination process for a National Assembly seat in the 2022 by-election.
