"'Owning 14 Houses' Baek Goon-gi, Mayor of Yongin: 'Only One Jointly Owned with My Son'"

[Asia Economy (Yongin) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Baek Gun-gi, mayor of Yongin City, clarified that he owns half a house in response to the Economic Justice Practice Citizens' Coalition's announcement that he owns 14 houses.

In a statement released on the 20th, Mayor Baek said, "Despite repeatedly giving the same explanation regarding my assets, there was a report claiming I own 14 houses, so I would like to clarify once again."

He continued, "The house in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, mentioned by the Economic Justice Practice Citizens' Coalition, is a multi-family house built on land inherited by my wife after she lost her previous husband before marrying me in 1995. She built it to raise her son and daughter by demolishing the existing house."

He added, "This multi-family house, which consists of one building with about 13 small one-room units of approximately 10 pyeong each, was mistakenly reported as 13 separate houses. Currently, my wife and her son jointly own this property with shares of 2/3 and 1/3 respectively," and "The adult child effectively exercises property rights."

Mayor Baek further explained, "In fact, the only house I own is half of an apartment jointly owned with my son, who inherited the share from my late wife. Although we remarried at the end of 2008 after losing our spouses to incurable diseases, we do not interfere with each other's assets. My wife has been deeply distressed by this recurring issue since my inauguration, as it causes her great hardship."

He emphasized, "I have served over 40 years in the military, reaching the rank of four-star general and even served as a member of the National Assembly, but I have never been ashamed of owning half a house," adding, "My wife and I have already been deeply hurt by the distorted announcements and reports."

Mayor Baek concluded, "However, I believe this is something I must fully endure as the mayor of Yongin and as the head of a family," and promised, "Going forward, as the mayor of Yongin, I will do my best to fulfill the responsibility entrusted to me by the 1.1 million citizens of Yongin to create a 'People-Centered New Yongin.'"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.