Minister of Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs Jong-hwan Chung of Korea, South

The remarks followed a statement made in parliament on Tuesday, when Chung said the grand canal project was not scrapped, but merely suspended, and that if the public feels the need, it could be restarted.

However, Chung took a cautious attitude toward the restrictions of the real estate market.

Concerning an alternative option for supplying units to low-income earners ― a system proposed by the presidential transition team in which owners take a 51 percent controlling stake and occupants have the remaining 49 percent interest ― Chung said his ministry plans to implement it in order to diversify the types of housing ownership.

Chung was indirectly critical of President Roh Moo-hyun's administration's major public project on the construction of rental houses for low-income wage earners, saying that demand needed to be closely linked with supply.