Yoon's Mother-in-law Fined 5.4 Billion Won for Alleged Nominee Ownership of 1.6 Million Pyeong in Seongnam City

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is delivering opening remarks at the Kwanhun Club invitation debate held on the 14th at the International Conference Hall of the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] On the 14th, the Democratic Party of Korea stated that Choi Eun-soon, the mother-in-law of Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is suspected of secretly purchasing land totaling 160,000 pyeong in the Seongnam area of Gyeonggi Province. She has been indicted for serious criminal acts such as violating the Real Name Real Estate Act and forging bank balance certificates.

The Democratic Party's Election Countermeasures Committee's Task Force (TF) held a press conference at the Democratic Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the same day and revealed this based on the indictment submitted to the National Assembly regarding Ms. Choi. TF leader Kim Byung-gi said, “In October 2013, Ms. Choi and business partner A purchased six parcels of land in Dochon-dong, Jungwon-gu, Seongnam City through auction, entering into a nominal trust agreement. According to the agreement, two parcels were registered under A’s son-in-law’s name, and four parcels were jointly registered under A’s son-in-law and corporation B, indicating secret ownership.”

He added, “According to the ‘Notice of Imposition of Penalty’ issued by Jungwon-gu Office in Seongnam City against Ms. Choi and business partner A for these charges, the real estate appraisal value of the six parcels of land in Dochon-dong managed under secret names from 2013 to 2016 was about 18.5 billion KRW. The penalties imposed on the two amounted to 2.73 billion KRW each, totaling 5.46 billion KRW.”

It was also disclosed that Ms. Choi failed to pay these penalties, resulting in the seizure of her owned real estate by Seongnam City. According to the list of seized properties released by the TF, the seized real estate owned by Ms. Choi includes one apartment located in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and approximately 362 pyeong of land in Hwado-eup, Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi Province. Kim said, “The official land price of the apartment in Songpa-gu is 1.15 billion KRW, while the actual transaction price for the same area is around 2.5 billion KRW.”

He stated, “From the preferential development suspicion in Gongheung-dong, Yangpyeong, to the secret ownership suspicion of five parcels in Gangsang-myeon, Yangpyeong, and the secret real estate speculation charges in Seongnam, the Kim Kun-hee family’s obsession with real estate is frightening. It appears that they committed all kinds of illegal acts such as violating the Farmland Act, Real Name Real Estate Act, fraud, forgery of private documents, and use of forged private documents for the sake of real estate speculation.”

Regarding this, Song Pyung-soo, spokesperson for the Democratic Party’s election committee, emphasized, “Candidate Yoon must clearly state his position on the mother-in-law’s real estate crime charges, including forgery of private documents, secret transactions, and land price inflation.”

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