Illegal Speculation in Foreigners' Land Transaction Permission Zones Serious... Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police Arrest 34 People

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has uncovered 34 foreigners and corporations, including Chinese-Koreans residing in China, who engaged in illegal speculative activities worth 10.4 billion KRW through fraudulent methods such as false address registration and name trust within land transaction permission zones.

To block speculative real estate transactions by foreigners and corporations, the province designated all 23 cities and counties within the province as foreigner and corporate land transaction permission zones in October last year.

This investigation is the first since the designation of the land transaction permission zones, aimed at detecting illegal speculative activities within these zones by foreigners and corporations.

On the 22nd, Kim Young-soo, head of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police Unit, held a press conference at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office and stated, "Since October, we have focused investigations on illegalities in the housing purchase process such as false address registration, fraudulent permits using false documents, name trusts, and misuse of corporate housing acquisition conditions in Ansan and Siheung cities, which are land transaction permission zones. As a result, one person was sent to the prosecution, four were criminally charged, and 29 are under investigation."

By type of crime, the most common was obtaining permission through fraudulent methods such as false address registration, involving 26 people. This was followed by ▲illegal permit acquisition using false documents (3 people) ▲fraudulent permit acquisition through name trusts (2 people) ▲illegal speculative activities using corporate conditions (dormitories) (3 people).

Among the major cases uncovered, a Chinese permanent resident A, living in Ansan, obtained land transaction permission to purchase a villa-type house located by the seaside in Ansan for actual residence and even changed his place of stay. However, he did not reside in the house even for a single day, violating the Immigration Control Act and the Act on Reporting Real Estate Transactions. The province explained that although A changed his place of stay, he did not live at the reported location, and although he purchased the house for actual residence, he did not actually reside there, thus violating related laws.

Like A, 26 people obtained land transaction permission through false address registration within the land transaction permission zones for speculative purposes, with the total speculative amount reaching 8.72 billion KRW.

B, a Chinese-Korean residing in Seoul, was found to have purchased an apartment by obtaining land transaction permission after submitting a land use plan citing employment, having received a false employment certificate from a restaurant operated by an acquaintance of his son.

C, a Chinese-Korean, obtained permission by submitting a funding plan showing 100% self-financing to acquire a house in Ansan, but rented out the house purchased for actual residence and received monthly rent. It was revealed that C received the purchase funds from his younger brother, and the contact number and account number listed in the lease contract also belonged to the younger brother, who was confirmed to receive the rent, exposing illegal speculative activity through name trust.

D, a corporate representative, obtained land transaction permission to acquire a house for the purpose of providing dormitories to three employees, but it was confirmed that he allowed his younger brother to live in the apartment, thus using the land transaction permission for private purposes.

Under current laws, those who obtain permission without authorization or through fraudulent means within land transaction permission zones face imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 30% of the individual publicly announced land price at the time of contract conclusion.

Kim Young-soo, head of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police Unit, emphasized, "We will ensure that speculative forces who are not genuine buyers within the land transaction permission zones are strictly punished without exception," and added, "Next year, we plan to conduct intensive investigations into illegal speculative activities targeting the 3rd phase new towns designated as land transaction permission zones."

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