Completion of Investigation on Japanese-Owned Properties: '4.95 Million㎡ Nationalized'

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The investigation project aimed at nationalizing properties owned by Japanese during the Japanese colonial period is coming to an end after 10 years since its launch.

According to the Public Procurement Service on the 25th, since 2012, the government has been conducting a full survey of more than 52,000 parcels of real estate registered under Japanese individuals, Japanese corporations, and Japanese institutions, suspected to be properties transferred to the Republic of Korea government through the US military government or not yet nationalized.

As a result, among the approximately 7,200 parcels confirmed as subject to nationalization by the end of last month, 4.95 million square meters (with an official land price of 143.1 billion KRW) have been successfully nationalized. The nationalized land area is about 1.7 times the size of Yeouido.

The Public Procurement Service plans to complete the investigation and proceed with nationalization procedures for the remaining approximately 1,600 parcels that have not yet been nationalized within this year.

Furthermore, even after the project is completed, the reporting window will continue to operate to actively promote nationalization if additional inherited properties are discovered.

Separately, the Public Procurement Service will continue the ‘Erasing Japanese Names from Public Registers Project.’ This project began last year in cooperation with the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and local governments, focusing on the maintenance of about 104,000 parcels of real estate registered under Japanese-style names in public registers.

Currently, the Public Procurement Service has shortlisted about 34,000 parcels for basic investigation, conducted on-site and in-depth investigations on about 13,000 of these, and is promoting nationalization for 262 parcels. The maintenance is scheduled to be completed by next year.

Kim Jeong-woo, Commissioner of the Public Procurement Service, said, “It is our government’s duty to thoroughly identify the remnants of Japanese colonial rule and restore ownership of the land,” adding, “The Public Procurement Service will not consider the nationalization project of inherited properties, which is concluding this year, as the end, but will continue efforts and attention to eradicate the remnants of Japanese colonial rule to pass on complete cadastral sovereignty and correct history to future generations.”

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