President Moon Jae-in made an on-site inspection Friday of a major public rental housing complex south of Seoul, as a public outcry has been mounting over soaring home prices and rental costs.

Cheong Wa Dae described Moon's move as meant to demonstrate the government's policy commitment to improving the public-sector supply of such rental homes in both quantity and quality.

Moon stressed the importance of providing "houses in which everyone wants to reside" during the visit to the compound in Dongtan, Gyeonggi Province, where the one millionth public rental housing unit built by Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) is located.

He was accompanied by related officials, including Land Minister Kim Hyun-mee and Byeon Chang-heum, the CEO of LH who has been tapped as Kim's replacement.

The president received a briefing on the government's public housing program and called for more efforts to improve residential welfare for low- and middle-income households.

He pointed out that it's important to expand the supply of relatively low-priced public rental homes, given the current market situation.

"But what's more important is innovation in quality" to make those houses coveted by ordinary people, Cheong Wa Dae said.

The prices of houses as well as rents and down payments, called "jeonse" here, have sharply risen in many regions of South Korea over the past several years. Those of apartments especially in Seoul and nearby towns have skyrocketed, in particular. (Yonhap)