I can understand taxing someone someone owning multiple homes if they are not renting out the properties and letting it sit vacant waiting for the price to rise. If the property is rented out then the owner is not contributing to the housing issue:
President Lee Jae Myung said Monday that “unfair privileges” granted to owners of multiple homes should be scrapped and that greater burdens should be imposed on them, reaffirming his commitment to rein in the overheated real estate market.
Lee signaled a tougher stance on such homeowners in his latest social media message on housing, saying the negative effects of holding multiple homes outweigh the positives.
“The government should reclaim unfair privileges in taxation, finance and regulation granted to owners of multiple homes and make them bear a certain level of responsibility and burden in relation to social problems, as this is consistent with fairness and common sense,” Lee wrote on social media platform X.
You can read more at the link.
I guess with so many conservatives being tried and put into jail there are not many left to operate a Youtube channel compared to the ruling liberal party:
In the 300-seat National Assembly, lawmakers are increasingly using the US-based video platform to bypass traditional media and speak directly to voters, with some pulling in half a million subscribers.
Estimates compiled by The Korea Herald from publicly available YouTube data show that, as of Feb. 1, 25 South Korean lawmakers had more than 100,000 subscribers, qualifying them for silver play buttons. Of these, 19 were from liberal or left-leaning parties and six were conservatives.
Rep. Jung Chung-rae, a four-term lawmaker and chair of the Democratic Party, topped the list with 687,000 subscribers, followed by Reps. Kim Byung-joo and Park Sun-won with more than 500,000 each. Other Democratic Party lawmakers with large followings included Reps. Park Ju-min and Choo Mi-ae, both exceeding 300,000 subscribers, while Rep. Yong Hye-in of the minor Basic Income Party ranked fifth overall with 375,000.
Among conservatives, first-term lawmaker Rep. Joo Jin-woo led the People Power Party with 362,000 subscribers, followed by Reps. Yu Yong-weon, Ahn Cheol-soo, Cho Jung-hun and Na Kyung-won. Rep. Lee Jun-seok, chair of the minor conservative Reform Party, also surpassed 200,000 subscribers.
You can read more at the link.
Back in the day when I was growing up we called two friends living together roommates, not molecular families:
Last year, South Korea surpassed 8 million single-person households for the first time.
According to data released in December by the Ministry of Data and Statistics, 8.045 million households were made up of just one person, up from 7.166 million in 2021, bringing the share of solo households to 36.1 percent, the highest level on record. The proportion has climbed steadily, crossing 30 percent in 2019 and 35 percent in 2023, with Seoul posting the largest concentration of people living alone.
As the country’s single-person households reach record levels, “Two Women Living Together” arrives as both an intimate memoir and a subtle social argument about how people might live and care for one another outside the institution of marriage.
Co-written by Kim Ha-na and Hwang Sun-woo, two friends who decided in their 40s to buy a home together rather than marry, the book chronicles their decision to grow old together under one roof.
You can read more at the link, but this article truly demonstrates why South Korea has one of the world’s lowest birthrates.
The Gyeongbu Expressway in southern Seoul is packed with vehicles on Feb. 13, 2025, a day before the Lunar New Year holiday period. (Yonhap)
If the ROK government provides legal status to the babies of illegal immigrants they will create further incentive for illegal immigrants to come to South Korea. They only have to look at what happened in the U.S. to see what will happen in the ROK:
Multiple bills aimed at establishing a birth registration system for undocumented migrant children born in South Korea remain pending in the National Assembly, leaving thousands of children without legal recognition and access to basic services, despite growing calls for legislative action.
At least two proposals pending in the parliament seek to create a legal framework allowing the registration, certification and amendment of birth records for non-Korean children, who are currently excluded from the country’s family registry system. No law has yet been enacted.
Under existing rules, children born to foreign parents cannot be formally registered at birth even if they are born in South Korea, as the family registry system applies only to Korean nationals. Without a resident registration number, many face difficulties accessing health care, education, child care and social protection.
You can read more at the link.
I definitely think of better place to spend Lunar New Year’s than in North Korea:
China’s Ambassador to North Korea Wang Yajun and other embassy officials have visited a beach resort area in North Korea on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, state media reported Sunday, raising views on whether Pyongyang is seeking to attract Chinese tourists.
Wang and other members of the Chinese Embassy in North Korea attended the friendly meeting that took place at the Wonsan-Kalma beach resort area the previous day, also attended by the North’s Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong-ho, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Pyongyang’s foreign ministry hosted a banquet to mark the Lunar New Year at a landmark hotel in the coastal tourist district, the KCNA said.
You can read more at the link.
Be safe out there this Friday the 13th. Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
