Police to Establish Permanent Investigation Unit for Real Estate Crimes

Installed at National City and Provincial Police Agencies and the National Police Agency
Dedicated Investigation of Public Officials' Speculation and Real Estate Market Disruption

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The police are planning to establish a permanent organization dedicated to investigating real estate-related crimes.

A National Police Agency’s National Investigation Headquarters (NIH) official stated on the 12th, "We plan to form dedicated investigation teams to handle real estate crimes at police agencies in all cities and provinces nationwide," adding, "We also intend to set up a unit-level organization within the NIH to command and supervise these investigations." The police plan to report this at the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee plenary session held that morning.

The newly established dedicated real estate organization is expected to handle investigations into a wide range of real estate market disruption activities, including suspicions of insider information speculation by public officials triggered by the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), as well as planned real estate fraud and illegal resale of pre-sale rights.

An NIH official explained the background, saying, "We anticipate an increasing demand for real estate-related investigations, as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is pushing for the establishment of a Real Estate Transaction Analysis Institute (tentative name)," adding, "This is to enhance expertise and responsiveness to real estate crimes." He also noted, "The exact name of the organization has not yet been decided," and "Personnel allocation must be finalized first."

Following the emergence of suspicions of real estate speculation by public officials, the police have formed a government joint special investigation headquarters (Special Investigation Headquarters) centered on the NIH to lead related investigations. Currently, the Special Investigation Headquarters consists of 1,560 members, including related agencies such as the National Tax Service, Financial Services Commission, and Korea Real Estate Board.

As of the 10th of this month, the Special Investigation Headquarters is conducting preliminary investigations and investigations into 532 cases and 2,082 individuals related to insider information speculation and planned real estate fraud. Among them, 13 people have been arrested, and 219 have been referred to the prosecution.

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