"After winning the election with a margin unprecedented in South Korea's democratic history, which enabled it to dominate all 17 standing of Parliament, the DP transformed the National Assembly into its own law-passing agency. It rammed through numerous contentious laws, without subcommittee review or any other consultative procedure required under the National Assembly Act. The also railroaded a series of housing laws in an attempt to stabilise skyrocketing real estate prices in the Seoul metropolitan area, where half of the country's population lives. The measures not only failed to bring the housing market under control, but also drew public anger, as they created more hurdles for middle-class first-time-buyers under the age of 40 - the main support group for the government. [...] The revelation caused many to question the sincerity of the government's pledge to resolve the housing crisis, and added weight to the accusations that President Moon and his party are using their dominance over the legislature to further their populist agenda and personal interests. Since the election, the DP government also made several moves to bring the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (SPO) fully under its control."
Hyung-A Kim

January 1, 1970