Legal Expert Park Seong-su, Songpa District Mayor, Wins Against LH, Recovers 3.9 Billion Won: The Story?

Songpa-gu Files Counterclaim for 26 Parcels (8,000㎡) in Wirye New Town Against LH... Supreme Court Victory on June 24, Recovery Planned Through Paid Reversion Agreement

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) won a lawsuit against Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) regarding the 'Cancellation of Ownership Registration for Some Residential Sites in Wirye New Town.'

Accordingly, the district will be able to recover approximately 3.9 billion KRW in unjust enrichment from LH.

This appears to be another demonstration of the capabilities of Mayor Park Seong-su, a former lawyer. Mayor Park is a legal expert who graduated from Seoul National University Law School, worked as a prosecutor, and served as a legal secretary at the Blue House.

This lawsuit is based on the paid and unpaid agreement contract between the district and LH at the time of approval of the residential site development plan in Wirye New Town. It began when the district filed a counterclaim lawsuit on July 20, 2017, regarding a parcel (Goyeodong 487-7 and 25 other parcels, 7,902㎡) that LH had gratuitously acquired from the district as general property according to the public register in 2009.

The main issue was whether the 26 parcels gratuitously acquired by LH from the district at the time of approval of the residential site development implementation plan on August 6, 2008, were public property.

Regarding this, the court ruled on June 5, 2019, in the first trial that the legal acts agreed upon individually for each parcel should be considered as a whole with close relevance, declaring the entire gratuitous acquisition agreement null and void, resulting in a victory for the district.

However, in the second trial on January 26, 2021, the court judged the 'single legal act' part differently, considering it as 'individual agreements for each land parcel.' It carefully reviewed the status, usage, and related public registers for each parcel and re-determined whether each parcel qualified as a public facility based on paid or unpaid criteria.

This decision placed the district at a significant disadvantage in the lawsuit due to difficulties in securing detailed evidence such as aerial photos and current status photos from 2008 compared to LH, the project developer.

In response, the district actively gathered materials such as media reports at the time, consultations with related departments, and parcel photos, and most of the submitted evidence was accepted.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division ruled on June 24 that the appeal by LH against the district regarding the cancellation of ownership registration was dismissed, stating that the appeal court's judgment (January 26, 2021) and the reasons for appeal were clearly without merit.

Having received the final favorable judgment, the district plans to recover 3.4 billion KRW in unjust enrichment from LH in August for the parcels won. Additionally, negotiations for paid acquisition have become possible for five parcels (Goyeodong 443-2 and 4 others, 745㎡) whose ownership has not yet been transferred to LH, amounting to about 500 million KRW.

Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa-gu, stated, “This victory is a valuable result obtained by actively responding to the district-owned land gratuitously acquired for public projects,” and added, “We will promptly proceed with the post-victory procedures to ensure that the financial benefits increase the district’s revenue and return to the residents.”

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