President Lee Jae-myung told new Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Hong Ji-sun on the 29th that "the nation's fate depends on" housing supply.
Kang Yu-jung, senior presidential spokesperson, said in a written briefing that Lee made the remarks during a closed-door session of the Cabinet meeting held at the presidential compound that day. "The role of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is extremely important. Please devote all your efforts to a policy of rapid supply," Lee said.
Lee also called for bold supply measures and asked the ministry to do its utmost to secure land for development. "Consider bold supply plans," he said. "Please explain in detail to the public the trends behind the recent increase in construction starts and move-in volumes in the greater Seoul area." He added, "Work hard, including by actively resolving staffing shortages at LH and the ministry." LH is the Korea Land & Housing Corporation.
Addressing ministers of related agencies as well as the land ministry, Lee stressed again that they should "approach this with the resolve to prostrate yourselves for faster supply." He also instructed them to actively engage in policy communication, saying, "Publicizing the results is even more important than producing them."
"When there are structural results achieved through changes in the government system, rather than incidental achievements, they must be publicized so that the public can feel them," Lee said. Citing declines in deaths from industrial accidents and suicides, as well as fatalities from safety incidents and disasters including landslides, storms and floods, heat waves and water accidents, he stressed, "We must effectively communicate our government's achievements in saving lives."
On this year's parliamentary audit of government agencies, set for next month, Lee said, "False attacks or excessive exaggeration must be countered, but the criticism itself is very valuable." He added, "We should be grateful for the National Assembly's criticism and correct and improve what is wrong."
