Jeonbuk Province Public Officials Real Estate Speculation Investigation 'Credibility Questioned'

Two Investigations Confirm No Insider Trading... Speculation of Speculation Remains Widespread

[Jeonju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Han-ho] Despite Jeonbuk Province conducting and announcing investigations into real estate speculation by public officials and their families twice, the credibility of these investigations is viewed skeptically.

Although it was found that there were no real estate transactions using undisclosed internal information, suspicions of illegal real estate dealings by public officials have repeatedly surfaced in various places.

On April 12, Jeonbuk Province announced that after a thorough investigation into illegal real estate transactions involving a total of 6,175 people, including 5,107 public officials affiliated with the provincial government, no cases were found.

However, it was later revealed that a senior official at the provincial government purchased eight plots of farmland near the planned development site of the Baekyang District urban development project in Gochang County, promoted by Jeonbuk Development Corporation, about a month before the project announcement (on November 26, 2020), totaling 9,508 square meters.

At the time of purchase, this official was in charge of regional urban planning and related local development policy tasks.

Accordingly, the Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agency is conducting a rigorous investigation into real estate speculation allegations, including raids on the official’s home, office, and Jeonbuk Development Corporation.

In June, speculation and preferential treatment allegations arose involving another high-ranking official who served as the deputy governor of Sunchang County and chief secretary to the governor.

The deputy governor purchased land near the Chaegye-dan suspension bridge during his tenure, and subsequently, the site received permits for a ‘tourism agriculture project’ and was rezoned for use as a rest restaurant, which is the core issue.

The Jeonbuk Provincial Audit Office promptly launched a special audit in response to these allegations.

Speculation allegations have also emerged in Wanju County.

A retired public official reportedly purchased two plots at the entrance of the project site for the ‘Samrye Samsaek Village Development Project’ in Wanju County, jointly with an acquaintance under the name of their spouse, between the project announcement and the establishment of the facility layout plan.

At that time, the official was working as a Grade 5 administrative officer.

With ongoing suspicions of real estate speculation using internal information in various places, Jeonbuk Province announced the results of the second audit on the 22nd of this month.

However, the result was that no suspects were found who purchased real estate using internal information.

Only four suspects of violations such as the Farmland Act were identified, and information on three of them will be provided to the police.

Despite continuous allegations of real estate transactions by high-ranking officials using undisclosed internal information, it is difficult to understand the results of the first and second investigations that found no suspects.

A Jeonju resident, Mr. Kim (50, Songcheon-dong, Deokjin-gu), pointed out, “There are frequent news reports about illegal real estate speculation by public officials, but the investigation results by Jeonbuk Province, which should detect these, always say ‘not a single case found,’ which does not make sense logically.”

Meanwhile, Jeonbuk Province stated that it plans to establish and implement strong measures to prevent real estate speculation, such as creating ordinances that restrict new real estate acquisitions related to duties for employees working in real estate-related departments, reflecting the revised Public Officials Ethics Act.

Jeonju=Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Han-ho stonepeak@asiae.co.kr

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