[Initial Insight] Go Seung-beom, Nominee for Financial Services Commission Chairman's 'Smart One Property'

On the 6th, Ko Seung-beom, the nominee for Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, responded to reporters' questions as he arrived at the confirmation hearing office set up at the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] The confirmation hearing for Go Seung-beom, the nominee for Financial Services Commission Chairman, will be held on the 27th of this month. Go, who entered public service through the 28th Administrative Examination, is a 'traditional bureaucrat' who has served as Director of the Financial Policy Bureau, Director of the Financial Services Bureau, Secretary-General, and Standing Commissioner at the Financial Services Commission.

According to the confirmation hearing request submitted by the Blue House to the National Assembly, Go's assets, which were 2.41238 billion KRW when he first disclosed his assets as a high-ranking official upon his appointment as Secretary-General of the Financial Services Commission in 2013, have more than doubled to 5.69258 billion KRW currently. As of the end of last year, the declared amount was 5.02536 billion KRW, an increase of about 670 million KRW. A significant factor was the nearly 500 million KRW surge in the publicly announced price of the Gangnam-gu Apgujeong-dong Shinhyundai Apartment (182.95㎡), jointly owned with his spouse, which rose from 2.895 billion KRW at the end of last year to 3.406 billion KRW this year.

Go purchased this apartment jointly with his wife on September 22, 2001. The apartment has a mortgage lien set by the Gangnam Tax Office due to tax arrears, with a bank loan mortgage of 168 million KRW. Go bought the Woosung Apartment (118.25㎡) in Sadang-dong, Seoul, in 1997 and sold it on October 10, 2001. It is estimated that the sale proceeds and bank loan were combined to purchase the Apgujeong apartment. At that time, the Apgujeong Hyundai Apartment was in a period of recovery after a sharp drop in real estate prices due to the Asian financial crisis, and it is estimated that Go bought the Shinhyundai Apartment in Apgujeong for less than 1 billion KRW. He sold the newly built apartment in Sadang-dong, completed in 1993, and, as the saying goes, 'pulled together all his resources (Yeongkkeul)' to invest in the nearly 20-year-old Apgujeong apartment.

The 1982-built Apgujeong Shinhyundai has seen rising expectations for reconstruction this year and was actually traded for 5.75 billion KRW in January. The Woosung Apartment in Sadang-dong was traded for 1.67 billion KRW last month. As various regulations have been introduced under the current administration, demand has concentrated on apartments in Gangnam, causing prices to soar. Go's early investment in a 'smart single property' reflects this trend.

Notably, Go and his spouse lived in nearby apartments on a jeonse (long-term lease) basis for over 16 years after purchasing the Apgujeong Shinhyundai. Five months after registering their residence at Shinhyundai, Go's spouse and two children moved their address to an adjacent complex, which was confirmed to be a disguised move to a relative's house to secure their eldest son's elementary school assignment. The adjacent complex (Old Hyundai) where Go's spouse and children moved includes Apgujeong Elementary School, and the move was advantageous for school assignment. Even after that, Go moved jeonse residences every two years until his overseas assignment in 2008, and after returning, he moved twice more. The last jeonse address was in Daechi-dong, the core of the Gangnam school district. Daechi-dong, known as the 'cradle of private education,' is home to prestigious schools such as Gyeonggi High School, Gyeonggi Girls' High School, Dandae High School, Chung-Ang High School, Sookmyung Girls' High School, Whimoon High School, and Jungdong High School, collectively known as the 8 school districts.

Disguised address changes for children's education have been a recurring topic in confirmation hearings. It is understandable that parents want the best for their children. It is not Go's fault that the real estate prices soared while he rented out his own home and lived on jeonse for over a decade for his children's education. However, since school district demand has been a major factor driving up Gangnam housing prices for decades since the 1970s development of Gangnam, one wonders whether this was an appropriate financial strategy for a 'traditional bureaucrat.' Moreover, Go was directly involved in real estate policy during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, receiving a presidential citation in 2006 for strengthening mortgage loan regulations to stabilize the rapidly rising real estate market.

The nearly 300-page confirmation hearing request for Go contains evidence of a public official's financial foresight, such as savings and deposits increasing by over 800 million KRW over eight years based on the early-acquired smart single property. However, the words of the current administration's longest-serving Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, who said, "A house is not a place to buy (BUY) but a place to live (LIVE)," come to mind, leaving a bitter taste.

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