Sejong City Requests Investigation into Public Officials Involved in Real Estate Transactions in National Industrial Complex

Prefabricated houses rapidly emerging in the Wachon-ri area of Yeonseo-myeon, Sejong City. Source=Yonhap News

[Asia Economy (Sejong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Sejong City government has requested a police investigation into a city hall official, Mr. A, who purchased real estate before the Smart National Industrial Complex was confirmed as a candidate site.

According to the city on the 13th, Mr. A voluntarily reported real estate transactions in Yeonseo-myeon’s Smart National Industrial Complex area to the Public Officials Real Estate Speculation Reporting Center that morning.

Investigations revealed that Mr. A purchased land in the Wachon-ri area of Yeonseo-myeon, and the purchase was made before the area was confirmed as a candidate site for the national industrial complex.

Accordingly, the city has taken measures to exclude Mr. A from his duties and requested a police investigation to determine whether he acquired the real estate using insider information.

The city also plans to strengthen investigations into whether any city hall employees have traded real estate near the national industrial complex in Yeonseo-myeon using internal administrative information.

Earlier, on the 12th, the city formed a Special Real Estate Speculation Investigation Team led by the Deputy Mayor, reviewing whether any city hall employees, including those directly involved with the Smart National Industrial Complex and their spouses, engaged in real estate speculation.

Separately, a Public Officials Real Estate Speculation Reporting Center has been established to receive tips and voluntary reports.

Ryu Im-cheol, Deputy Mayor of Sejong City, stated, “We believe the police investigation into Mr. A will reveal the truth regarding the allegations of real estate speculation using insider information,” adding, “The city plans to strengthen voluntary reporting and investigations into real estate speculation suspicions near the Smart Industrial Complex involving city hall officials beyond Mr. A.”

Meanwhile, the Wachon-ri area in Yeonseo-myeon (3.3 million square meters) was selected as a candidate site for the national industrial complex in 2018 and was designated as a land transaction permission zone in September of that year. Compensation is scheduled to begin next year.

However, several months before the designation as a land transaction permission zone, prefabricated panel houses (temporary buildings) began to be erected on the site, and saplings were systematically planted in various locations.

Additionally, between January and August 2018, the number of land transactions, which had been sparse, surged to over 7,000 cases. This is a point of suspicion for speculative transactions based on insider information prior to the designation as a national industrial complex.

In this regard, the Sejong Police recently received data from the city regarding ownership changes and land transaction permit applications for land in Yeonseo-myeon from March to September 2018, and on the 10th, they began a full-scale internal investigation into the speculation allegations.

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