The reason for the recent surge in public support for promoting the late Lee Sang-ryong's official honors is because of his low official grade. Lee Sang-ryong was the representative of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Despite his prominent role in the country's struggle for independence from Japan, he was only given the third-class honor of "Taegeuk Order of Merit for National Foundation". Many people feel that this is an injustice, given that other key leaders of the independence movement, such as Syngman Rhee and Kim Gu, were awarded higher grades. The campaign to promote Lee's official honors has gained momentum, with many Koreans calling for a reevaluation of his contributions to the country's history. The issue has sparked a heated debate about how to properly recognize and honor the country's independence heroes. The government has yet to respond to the growing calls for a promotion of Lee's official honors.

Seoul apartment land-use permit applications have been steadily decreasing for three consecutive months, with the rate of price increases also halving. Among the hardest-hit areas are Gangnam-gu and Jung-gu, while low-to-mid-priced apartments in Jongno-gu and southern Seoul continue to show relative strength. The Seoul government reported on July 14 that the new land-use permit applications for Seoul apartments totaled 4,681.

This was a 47.5% decrease from April's 8,911 applications and an 11.7% drop from June's 5,304 applications. The decline has persisted for three months since April, with an average of 212.8 applications per day, the lowest since this year began. Since Seoul designated all land-use permit application districts as zoning districts last October, the cumulative applications have reached 53,114.

Within the metropolitan area, the largest decrease was seen in Gangnam-gu and Jung-gu, with a 21.6% decline in applications from June (691) to July (542). The share of total applications also fell from 13.0% to 11.6%. Meanwhile, the share of applications in Gangnu-gu's 10 districts increased from 46.2% to 46.7%, while it rose from 18.8% to 19.7% in southern Seoul's four districts.

The land-use permit application fees rose by 1.41% compared to the previous month, but the increase rate slowed down compared to the 2.67% growth in June. Gangnam-gu and Jung-gu saw increases of 0.38% and 0.63%, respectively, while Gangnu-gu and southern Seoul experienced rises of 1.78% and 2.29%. The Seoul government analyzed that the real impact of the loan regulation on low-to-mid-priced housing is reflected in the continued demand for smaller properties.

The reduction in applications for housing that can be lived in due to the government's extension of the exemption policy accounted for 4.5% of the total. The Seoul government views the decrease in applications from June by 23.6% as not significant due to the government's expansion of the exemption target. This report is based on data formed prior to the release of the government's 8·3 tax reform bill on June 13.

The Seoul government expects the 8th month land-use permit statistics to show the first reaction of the Seoul housing market to the two policy measures announced that day.