Yoon Gun-young: "Opposition's 'Yangsan Residence' Claim is an Elementary-Level Issue... Farming Experience is Not False"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] Yoon Gun-young, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and former head of the Blue House National Situation Room, stated on the 15th that the opposition party's allegations regarding President Moon Jae-in's residence site in Yangsan, Gyeongnam, are “elementary school level accusations” and denied that there was any falsehood in the controversy related to the Farmland Act.

In an interview with MBC Radio’s ‘Kim Jong-bae’s Focus’ on the morning of the same day, Rep. Yoon said, “Both the farmland purchase and land development claims are clearly weak arguments to anyone familiar with returning to farming or rural living.”

Regarding the land development allegations, he said, “The construction of the presidential residence is proceeding legally and according to regulations,” adding, “The opposition claims that buying farmland and converting it into building land resulted in profits, but this is a claim made without verifying the relevant regulations and reality. Land development frequently occurs when many people return to farming.”

He continued, “Local governments comprehensively approve land development and require payment of farmland preservation charges,” emphasizing, “Payments are made based on the difference in official land prices between farmland and building land, and if the price rises after building a house, a development charge must also be paid. All these procedures are routine for anyone returning to farming or rural living.”

Regarding the record of farming experience, he said, “Farming experience is not a prerequisite for acquiring farmland,” and questioned, “Isn’t it natural under the Farmland Act that farmland can be acquired even without past farming experience?” Rep. Yoon rebutted, “President Moon recorded 11 years of managing fruit trees and vegetable gardens at his current residence. This itself is not false at all.”

He criticized the opposition’s claims as election tactics. Rep. Yoon pointed out, “The People Power Party raised various suspicions several times in the National Assembly over the past year, but they did not become an issue,” explaining, “The reason is that they were nothing but absurd political attacks.” He added, “As the election approaches and the land speculation issue involving Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) employees surfaced, they are making unreasonable political attacks by dragging the president back into the issue.”

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