Park instructs aides to not push for unviable election pledges

President Park Geun-hye recently instructed her aides to revoke “loans for jeonse (rental home based on lump sum key deposit) that do not require large key deposit” and revise the “Happy rental housing program” among her election pledges, it was reported on Sunday. The presidential office is reportedly taking steps to adjust some of her election pledges to comply with reality in line with the direction of state administration to improve people’s livelihoods next year.

“Checking national agendas for people’s livelihoods at a meeting of senior presidential secretaries presided over by the president on December 9 and 16, President Park stated ‘as for the pledge on ‘jeonse loan 1 that does not require a large key deposit (introduction of a loan product that landlord makes loans for the tenant), there is no need to stubbornly push for the measure that has failed to generate positive response in the market. Do not excessively push for things that are not doable,” said a source at the presidential office. As for Happy Housing (national rental homes for people who do not own homes), Park reportedly said, “Do not stick on the figure 200,000 housing units. It could generate negative results that deviate from original intention of the policy.”

"Jeonse loan 1 without large key deposit” has effectively been revoked nowadays. The Happy Housing project, which faced opposition by residents living around candidate sites, also has been significantly scaled down from the original plan to build 200,000 units to 140,000 units. The two policies were Park’s core election pledges as the presidential candidate of the ruling party for last year’s presidential election. A presidential office source said, “The latest move is an effort to coordinate election pledges facing obstacles with reality.”