[Weekly Review] 23 More Land Speculation Cases Confirmed in Government's 2nd Investigation

On the 18th, members of the Seongnam Residents' Solidarity held a press conference in front of the Blue House Fountain in Jongno-gu, Seoul, urging the eradication and expansion of the three major illegal acts by LH (land speculation, withholding of housing relocation expenses, and construction corruption) to eliminate vested interests and violations of housing rights. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] On the 19th, the government announced that a second investigation targeting local government officials in charge of development tasks and local public enterprises related to the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) scandal confirmed a total of 23 suspected cases of speculation. Among them, 10 officials belonged to Gwangmyeong City, the highest number.

The second investigation targeted a total of 8,780 people, including 6,581 local government officials related to the 3rd New Town project and 2,199 employees of local public enterprises. Among them, 23 people whose land transactions were confirmed and who were subject to investigation requests included 18 from local governments and 5 from local public enterprises. Among local governments, Gwangmyeong City had the most with 10 people, followed by Ansan City with 4, Siheung City with 3, and Hanam City with 1. The local public enterprises included 2 from Bucheon Urban Corporation, 2 from Gyeonggi Urban Corporation, 1 from Gwacheon Urban Corporation, and 1 from Ansan Urban Corporation, totaling 5.

Although not included in the investigation request, 5 cases of transactions presumed to be gifts among family members were confirmed. The government plans to transfer these to the government joint special investigation headquarters for use as reference materials for investigation.

◆Hong Nam-ki: "To prevent recurrence of the LH scandal, establish a Real Estate Analysis Institute"= Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance, stated that a Real Estate Analysis Institute must be established as soon as possible to prevent a recurrence of the LH scandal.

On the 18th, appearing before the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee, Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "The Real Estate Analysis Institute is an organization aimed at monitoring the market, tracking disruptive activities, and analyzing information rather than supervision," adding, "The establishment of the Real Estate Analysis Institute has been delayed, and I believe there was negligence in such control mechanisms."

Regarding criticism that LH received the highest rating for three consecutive years in public institution evaluations, he said, "Since there are various items in management evaluations, even if a specific part is poorly done, the overall evaluation can rise if points are gained in other areas," and added, "We are reviewing ways to improve the system so that greater disadvantages can be imposed in evaluations when causing significant social controversies like this case."

◆OECD: "Korean economy ranks 10th globally despite COVID-19"... 9th place also expected= Despite the shock of COVID-19, the Korean economy is expected to recover to 10th place globally last year. Depending on actual results, it may surpass Canada by a narrow margin and rank 9th for the first time in history.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), based on last year's projections, Korea's nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to reach $1.624 trillion, surpassing Russia ($1.403 trillion, 11th), Brazil ($1.394 trillion, 12th), and Australia ($1.333 trillion, 13th), achieving 10th place globally. This is a two-rank rise from 12th place in 2019 and marks a return to the top 10 after two years since 2018.

Nominal GDP is an indicator showing how much goods and services a country produces, aggregated based on market prices (current year prices). There is also a possibility of ranking 9th for the first time. Korea's projected nominal GDP is slightly higher than Canada's ($1.620 trillion), so depending on actual figures, there is room to reach 9th place.

◆Due to coal phase-out policy, KEPCO's five power generation subsidiaries recorded a combined loss of 361 billion KRW last year= Due to the government's coal phase-out policy, Korea Electric Power Corporation's (KEPCO) five power generation subsidiaries all recorded net losses last year.

According to KEPCO's business report, the five power generation subsidiaries recorded a total net loss of 361 billion KRW last year. Among them, Namdong Power recorded the largest net loss of 139.1 billion KRW, followed by Seobu Power with 109 billion KRW, Dongseo Power with 65.4 billion KRW, and Jungbu Power and Nambu Power with 29.9 billion KRW and 17.6 billion KRW respectively.

The deterioration in performance was influenced by the government's energy transition policy and coal power reduction policy. As the operation of coal-fired power plants with low fuel costs decreased, sales and profits from existing power generators declined, while investment in renewable energy facilities increased. The decrease in electricity demand due to COVID-19 and the drop in wholesale electricity prices caused by the decline in liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices also affected the subsidiaries' performance deterioration.

On the other hand, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, which operates nuclear power plants, showed favorable results. KHNP recorded an operating profit of 1.3158 trillion KRW and a net profit of 617.9 billion KRW last year. This was due to increased utilization rates of nuclear power plants and increased electricity sales as maintenance work on existing nuclear plants was completed.

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