Party and Government Discuss LH Speculation Measures... 3 to 5 Times Recovery of Unfair Gains from Public Officials' Speculation

High-Level Party-Government-Cheong Collaboration Discusses LH Speculation Measures
All Public Officials in Real Estate-Related Work to Register Assets
First LH Employee Summoned... Four Departments in Sejong City Raided

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Gwan-ju and Jeon Jin-young] A plan is being promoted to expand the scope of public officials required to register their assets to include all public officials involved in real estate-related work. Unjust profits gained from speculation by these officials will be recovered at 3 to 5 times the amount.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is delivering opening remarks at the high-level party-government-civil cooperation meeting held at the National Assembly on the 19th to discuss measures to eradicate real estate speculation. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The Democratic Party of Korea, the government, and the Blue House held a high-level party-government-Blue House meeting at the National Assembly on the morning of the 19th to discuss and announce countermeasures in response to the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) scandal. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun stated in his opening remarks, "We will consider expanding the asset registration system so that all public officials involved in real estate-related work, regardless of rank, must register their assets," and emphasized, "We will make prior reporting mandatory for new real estate acquisitions to preemptively block attempts at public official speculation." The mandatory asset registration plan includes not only government ministry officials but also employees of public institutions like LH and local government officials. Choi In-ho, the senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said in a briefing, "To eradicate real estate speculation and restore trust in the public sector, we will strongly punish any detected speculation and illegal or unfair acts, and recover illegal and unjust profits through a four-step plan to be finalized promptly within this month." Since the acquisition of farmland for speculative purposes was an issue in this case, amendments to the Farmland Act will also be pursued.

The party, government, and Blue House also proposed a measure allowing the prosecution to initiate direct investigations if necessary regarding the LH investigation. Currently, the investigation is led by the government joint special investigation headquarters (Special Investigation Headquarters), not the prosecution. Senior spokesperson Choi requested, "We ask that this incident be used as a milestone to establish cooperation measures between the prosecution and police under the new criminal law system." Kim Tae-nyeon, acting leader of the Democratic Party, also urged, "We ask the prosecution to conduct direct investigations if crimes subject to investigation are discovered."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, the Special Investigation Unit for Real Estate Speculation Crimes of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency summoned Kang Mo, who worked as a compensation officer at LH. Since 2017 until recently, Kang and his wife, as well as former and current colleagues, purchased 10 land parcels worth 6 to 7 billion KRW. The police report center established by the government joint special investigation headquarters received 32 additional reports the previous day, bringing the total to 275. Additionally, the police summoned and are investigating a current LH employee for the first time since the LH speculation allegations arose. It is reported that other LH employees have also been notified to appear. The police also conducted raids on four departments, including the Land Information Division of Sejong City Hall, related to allegations of speculation in the planned Sejong National Industrial Complex area.

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