Ministry of National Defense "Reviewing Investigation of Land Speculation by Military and Facilities Headquarters"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter]As it has been revealed that a Ministry of National Defense employee purchased land in the area before the new town plan was announced, voices are emerging calling for the scope of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) speculation investigation to be expanded to include the military.

On the 16th, Mr. A, a civilian employee of the Defense Facilities Headquarters under the Ministry of National Defense, purchased 1,200 pyeong of land opposite the 30th Division in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, in 2016 under the names of his wife and daughter. The purchase prices were 467 million KRW and 433 million KRW respectively.

The 30th Division was decided to be disbanded in 2014, and it is known that the land was included in the site of the ‘Goyang Changneung New Town’ announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in 2019, leading to the decision to sell it. It is reported that Mr. A was working at the Northern Gyeonggi Facilities Unit at the time of the land purchase, which oversees and supervises military base relocations and facility construction, raising suspicions that he may have acquired related information in advance and purchased the land. Mr. A is said to have completely denied the speculation allegations related to the land purchase.

The Ministry of National Defense has a policy to verify facts if related reports are received by the Audit Office, but voices inside and outside the military are calling for a comprehensive investigation into employment or speculation using military facility information such as military base relocations.

Among those recently involved in the LH issue, there are also reservists who worked in institutions responsible for military construction and land during their active duty. Mr. A, a retired brigadier general, served as acting head of the Defense Facilities Headquarters during active duty and was the head of project management at the USFK Relocation Project Group. The USFK Relocation Project Group leads the construction of bases covering 14,677,000㎡ (4.44 million pyeong), five times the size of Yeouido. Retired Colonel B, who is from the engineering corps responsible for military facility construction, graduated from the Korea Military Academy and served as head of logistics at the Intelligence Command before joining LH. Another retired lieutenant colonel from the engineering corps is a former member of the Defense Security Command.

Last July, the government announced plans to develop five sites in the Seoul area into housing. All these sites included military land and military facilities: Namtaeryeong military officers’ quarters (Namhyun-dong, Seoul), Capital Defense Command site (Bondong, Seoul), Wirye military land (Changgok-dong, Seongnam), and Seoul Regional Military Manpower Administration (Singil-dong, Seoul).

Regarding this, Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Boo Seung-chan said, “We are reviewing plans to investigate real estate speculation targeting the Ministry of National Defense, its direct units, and each branch of the military,” adding, “If it is confirmed that real estate purchases were made using internal information, strict measures will be taken.”

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