Democratic Party-affiliated Haman County Council Members Raise Allegations of Preferential Treatment in Military Land Use Change Sites

Military Official: "Timing Discrepancy in Land Purchase Is Not Preferential Treatment"

Members of the Democratic Party of Korea from the Haman County Council in Gyeongnam held a press conference on the 24th raising allegations of preferential treatment regarding the site whose usage was changed by Haman County.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] Members of the Democratic Party affiliated with the Haman County Council in Gyeongnam raised allegations of favoritism regarding the land that Haman County changed its use for.

On the 24th, the council members held a press conference in front of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council and urged the police to investigate the county’s land use change case.

Last year, the Haman County Urban Planning Committee passed a proposal to change 300,000㎡ of conservation management area to planned management area, and they claimed that 66,000㎡ of the land where the use change was carried out was purchased under the names of subcommittee chairpersons, high-ranking officials’ families, relatives, and acquaintances.

They said, “The county proceeded with the land use change according to the long-term comprehensive development plan to attract the Gyeongnam Human Resources Development Institute, but discussions about relocating the Human Resources Development Institute had not taken place,” and “urban planning committee members opposed the land use change proposal.”

The Haman County Council also expressed a request for reconsideration of the land use change case in June 2021, but urged a clear stance on why the land owned by the urban planning committee member was not excluded during the review process and why unreasonable administrative procedures were carried out, requesting that investigative agencies be asked to conduct an investigation.

The county explained that the decision on whether to change the land use is made according to the review and resolution of Gyeongnam Province, and that the application for the case has been submitted to the province but the land use change has not been finalized.

A Haman County official stated, “In order to attract the Gyeongnam Human Resources Development Institute, which is under review for relocation, we promoted the plan to reorganize the Haman County management plan including the land use change of the site in February 2021 according to the 2030 Haman County Long-term Comprehensive Development Plan.”

“Those accused of favoritism purchased the land before the plan to reorganize the Haman County management plan was reviewed,” he said, “It was revealed that they had already disposed of the land in 2018, so the allegations raised do not match the timeline.”

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