[Column] The Special Supply of Apartments for Public Officials Should Be Abolished

The new building of the Sejong Customs Valuation and Classification Institute (Gwanpyeongwon), left vacant for a year. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] Skyrocketing housing prices have become the root cause of all kinds of social conflicts. This time, the controversy is over the ‘special supply for public officials (teukgong)’. It was revealed that the Korea Customs Service Valuation and Classification Institute (Gwanpyeongwon) built a ‘ghost office building’ that it does not even use, and 49 of its employees received apartment pre-sale rights in Sejong City, sparking calls for the abolition of teukgong. This has poured fuel on the already worsened public sentiment toward real estate.

From the start, the idea of providing ‘apartment pre-sale rights’ targeting a specific occupational group is an enormous privilege. If a private company were to relocate its headquarters to a provincial area or dispatch employees and offer ‘apartment pre-sale rights’, that company would instantly become the ‘most desirable workplace’.

Above all, pre-sale rights are a ‘policy domain’ that no private company, no matter how wealthy, can provide. It is a ‘self-granted privilege’ that only the government can offer. The competition rate is also disproportionately low compared to general sales. It is said that about 26% of the apartments supplied in Sejong over the past 10 years (approximately 97,000 units) went to public officials.

Of course, if employees are forcibly relocated to places where commuting is impossible, housing support cannot be denied. Private companies provide dormitories or support for jeonse loans, moving expenses, and a certain amount of relocation allowance. This is welfare-level ‘support’ aimed at stabilizing employees’ housing, which is entirely different from granting apartment pre-sale rights that serve as a means of personal asset accumulation. The ‘teukgong’ enjoyed by public officials is an unparalleled benefit from the perspective of employees working in private companies.

The government belatedly took steps to improve the system by extending the resale restriction period and imposing a mandatory residence period. However, these measures appear to be mere late-stage patchwork and insufficient to appease the angry public sentiment. Due to lax management so far, many have already realized short-term profits through sales. The government must seriously listen to the voices of the people demanding the abolition of teukgong.

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