[Asia Exclusive] Kim Heondong, SH President: "SH Asset Disclosure at Month-End, Will Publicly Compare Naegokdong and Daejangdong Projects"

Kim Heon-dong, President of SH Corporation. / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

Ownership Tax Burden Should Not Be Imposed on Public Interest Corporations

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] Since his appointment in November last year, Kim Heon-dong, President of Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH Corporation), has been taking bold steps. He is actively working on disclosing SH Corporation’s assets. He stated, "We plan to disclose the properties owned by SH Corporation around the end of this month," adding, "The owners of the public enterprise are the 10 million citizens of Seoul, and they have the right to know where and how much property our company holds."

President Kim explained, "There is a significant difference between the book value of assets and the actual value of assets held by SH Corporation. For example, a long-term lease apartment built for 200 million KRW is currently valued at 1 billion KRW," and continued, "Even based on the publicly announced prices, properties built with 6 trillion KRW have become worth 16 trillion KRW, and their market value is close to 30 trillion KRW." He also plans to compare the business structures of the apartment sales in Naegok-dong, Seocho-gu, a Gangnam area, and the Daejang-dong project in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province. Kim said, "We will soon disclose a comparison of the profit structures and business methods between the Daejang-dong project and the Seocho district project we conducted."

Earlier, during a briefing at the Cheonggyesan Waterside Park near Complex 6 in Naegok District in March, he remarked, "This very spot in Naegok-dong was a hot topic during the April 7th by-elections last year," and added, "We will be able to compare the apartment sales in Naegok-dong, Seocho-gu, a Gangnam area, with Daejang-dong in Seongnam City, which was a hot topic during the last presidential election."

President Kim argued that with the sharp rise in housing prices under the Moon Jae-in administration, the burden of comprehensive real estate tax has increased, and it is desirable not to impose ownership tax on public interest corporations such as SH Corporation. He appealed, "Public housing is for citizens’ residential welfare, and according to relevant laws, usage fees are only 30-60% of market prices," adding, "The property rights of public housing assets held are regulated so that they cannot be freely exercised."

According to SH Corporation, as of last year, property tax and comprehensive real estate tax imposed on the corporation exceeded 100 billion KRW, which is more than the total wages of SH Corporation employees (about 80 billion KRW). He said, "This is very unreasonable," and added, "As in the past, property tax and comprehensive real estate tax should not be imposed on public housing owned by SH Corporation, and the ownership taxes paid so far should be refunded." He also revealed that he conveyed this message to the Presidential Transition Committee and proposed institutional improvements.

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