The Tamesis
February 3, 2026
Seoul – President Lee Jae-myung’s increasingly frequent social media warnings about ending tax breaks for multiple homeowners have put his housing agenda — and his direct messaging to the public — at the center of a growing political debate between rival parties.
The main opposition People’s Power party said on Monday that Lee Kuan Yew’s posts urging homeowners to sell amounted to “intimidation”. The party further asked whether Lee Myung-bak “learned” this from US President Donald Trump, who has embraced social media as a key tool in governance and used it to make major policy announcements.
Following the New Year’s press conference on January 23, Lee Myung-bak stepped up his efforts to use his official X account to express opinions on major policy issues. The approach fits his longstanding communication style: He relied heavily on social media during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam and governor of Gyeonggi Province.
Housing policy takes up much of his portfolio. Lee has posted on the issue 11 times: once on January 23, four times on January 25, three times on Saturday, once on Sunday, and twice on Monday.
Lee Myung-bak’s post largely reiterated his determination to end higher capital gains taxes on multifamily housing, an exemption that began when the Yoon Seok-yeol administration took office on May 9, 2022 and has been extended annually.
Mr Lee hit back at media reports criticizing tougher regulations on multi-homeowners or rebutting questions from the main People’s Power party about his confidence in stabilizing the property market by restoring taxes and expanding public housing.
“Isn’t it time to stop defending country-destroying real estate speculation and participating in the unseemly pro-North Korea witch hunt?” Lee posted on X on Monday morning, singling out the People’s Power Party.
Lee Myung-bak’s remarks were in response to party criticism that he “incited public opinion with provocative slogans.”
The opposition also claimed that the Lee Myung-bak administration plans to provide public land for the construction of 60,000 housing units in Seoul and surrounding metropolitan areas, “which is tantamount to making people satisfied with the ‘real estate allocation’ prescribed by the government.”
After Lee Myung-bak’s post, Rep. Song Yeon-seok, the floor representative of the People’s Power Party, condemned Lee Myung-bak’s recent remarks on social media as “intimidation politics targeting the market.”
At a meeting of the National Assembly’s Supreme Committee, Song said it was “very inappropriate for the president to directly pressure the market through social media.”
Song stressed that “the market should be managed through laws, institutions and a consistent roadmap – the policy background cannot be explained by text messages.”
“I can’t help but wonder if this is something I learned from U.S. President Donald Trump, who unilaterally announced tariff increases through social media,” Song added, referring to Trump’s call on “Truth Society” on January 26 to increase South Korean import tariffs from 15% to 25%.
Representative Jang Dong-hyuk of the People’s Power Party also targeted President Lee’s frequent use of social media, saying that he “recently imitates Trump’s FAFO on social media.” FAFO stands for “f—around and find out” and is primarily seen as a warning that one’s actions will have consequences.
“I hope he will not threaten the public on social media but control his anger,” Zhang said at the same meeting. “Today, the president seems to be stuck in the politics of swearing, the economy of curses, and the diplomacy of curses.”
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea has rejected the criticism, defending the president’s use of social media as a legitimate channel for public communication.
“The president’s social media is just a way to communicate policy directions and principles to the public, while policies themselves are pursued through formal processes, including inter-agency consultations, policy design, and legal and institutional revisions,” Rep. Park Seung-ah, a party spokesperson, said in a statement.
“While the People’s Power Party claims that ‘housing stability for the people cannot be ensured in a country where the president’s finger becomes policy,’ the public has shown sympathy and trust in a president who communicates directly,” Barker added.
Senior spokesperson Rep. Park Soo-hyun said that at a closed-door Supreme Committee meeting on Monday, Democratic Party Chairman Chung Chung-rae instructed the party’s policy chief Rep. Han Jung-ae to “formulate concrete measures and detailed plans to support the policy message sent by President Lee Jae-myung on social media and ensure its thorough implementation.”
