'Top Real Estate Instructor' LH Employee Secretly Doing Side Job, Received 30 Million Won Severance Pay

Dismissed for Offering Paid Online Lectures While in Office
Road Corporation Employee Also Made 70 Million Won from Insider Trading Using Unreleased Data

It has been revealed that Mr. A, a former employee of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) who was dismissed after earning extra money as the "No.1 Land Auction Instructor" on a paid internet site, has virtually received his entire severance pay.

According to data received by Rep. Kim Sang-hoon of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from LH on the 19th, Mr. A initially received 30,236,000 KRW out of a total severance pay of 31,508,000 KRW. The actual amount received was slightly reduced due to a cut in his base salary during the period of suspension from duty.

Considering that he joined in 2007 and worked for 13 years, Mr. A’s severance pay is relatively low, which is believed to be because he had previously taken an interim severance pay advance.

Mr. A maintained his status as an LH employee without reporting a concurrent position to the company and engaged in profit-making activities on paid lecture sites as a self-proclaimed "No.1 Land Auction Instructor in Korea" before being dismissed in March.

Additionally, Mr. B, a former Korea Expressway Corporation employee who was dismissed for real estate speculation using internal information, also received most of his severance pay.

Mr. B was caught after purchasing an 1,800㎡ plot near the planned Saemangeum-Jeonju highway interchange for a total of 166.8 million KRW in 2016, using undisclosed internal design documents, and was dismissed in 2018.

After dismissal, Mr. B received 71,157,000 KRW out of an initial severance pay of 72,700,000 KRW. Like Mr. A, his actual severance pay was slightly reduced due to a cut in base salary during the suspension period.

Public institution employees can fully receive severance pay even if they are dismissed for serious misconduct. This is because under the current "Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act," public institution employees have the same legal status as regular private sector workers, who are not restricted in severance pay upon dismissal.

Rep. Kim said, "For public officials, severance pay can be reduced by up to 50% depending on the length of service if they are sentenced to imprisonment or dismissed," adding, "Since public institutions also perform public duties, it is necessary to impose restrictions when serious misconduct such as that of the 'No.1 Real Estate Auction Instructor' is revealed."

Meanwhile, Mr. A promoted himself on the internet as "Korea’s No.1 Land Instructor" and "No.1 Land Auction and Public Auction Instructor (top sales)," hiding his real name and using a pen name, but was eventually caught.

The "Land Basics" course taught by Mr. A lasted five months and cost 230,000 KRW. He introduced himself by saying, "The start of stable investment is land investment," and "With 18 years of experience in real estate investment companies, I understood land and proceeded with numerous profit realizations and investments related to land." However, it was confirmed that Mr. A’s actual working period was less than 18 years, revealing that his experience was exaggerated.

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