President Lee Jae Myung and First Lady Kim Hea Kyung have sold their apartment in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, for 2.9 billion won, about 1.96 million dollars. Ownership transferred on July 17 after the property spent five months on the market, having been listed in February.
The reasoning
Cheong Wa Dae said Lee had no obligation to sell, since it was his only home and therefore outside the scope of policies aimed at owners of multiple properties. The office said he acted to demonstrate his commitment to realising the administration's real estate normalisation policy, the effort to bring housing prices under control.
That is the political point of the sale. A president asking the public to accept measures designed to cool the property market carries a weaker case while holding an asset that benefits from the market staying hot.
The financing
One detail complicates the clean break. The buyers took a mortgage of 1.78 billion won with the president and first lady acting as the lenders, and are due to pay the outstanding balance around October. The couple have transferred the title but retain a financial interest in the property until that payment is made.