Government and Democratic Party hold policy meeting on housing

SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) -- The government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) held a high-level policy coordination meeting Sunday to discuss housing policy and other issues affecting people's livelihoods.

The meeting was held at the official residence of Prime Minister Han Seong-sook for the first time since last Monday's election of former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok as DP leader.

Kim addressed the controversy surrounding the government's push to increase housing supply in the greater Seoul area and the accompanying tax code revisions, saying more deliberation is needed regarding the proposal to effectively increase taxes on single-home owners who do not live in the property.

Under the proposal, the government will lower their basic deduction for the comprehensive real estate holding tax from the current 1.2 billion won to 900 million won.

"We need to broadly recognize the various inevitable reasons for not living in the property and remove blind spots," the DP leader said.

Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik stressed the importance of sending clear "signals," such as when, where and how many units will be built, in order to ease the public's anxieties around housing supply.

He asked that the party's local leaders use their knowledge of their communities to present ways to secure land for housing construction in the immediate term, promising that the government and Cheong Wa Dae would actively review them.