'Bought land in Incheon for 8 million won, sold for 100 million won'... Half of illegal land transactions by foreigners are Chinese

Consistently Unresponsive to Requests for Explanation of the Transaction

In August 2017, a Chinese national, Mr. A, purchased land in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon for 8 million won and sold it in April 2020 for 94.5 million won, making a significant capital gain. Judging the transaction as speculative, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport requested a statement, but Mr. A refused to submit related documents. Ultimately, he is subject to an investigation by the local government.

On the 2nd, the Ministry of Land announced that it investigated 14,938 cases of domestic land transactions by foreigners nationwide over six years from 2017 to 2022 and detected 437 suspicious illegal activities. Among the foreigners caught, Chinese nationals accounted for the largest portion at 56% (211 cases). Americans followed with 79 cases (21%), and Taiwanese with 30 cases (8%).

By type of activity, there were 61 cases reported to the National Tax Service for suspected illicit gifting, six cases reported to the National Police Agency for name-trust issues, 35 cases reported to the Korea Customs Service for illegal inflow of overseas funds, and 419 cases reported to local governments for false reporting of declared prices. By region, Gyeonggi-do had the most cases (177), followed by Chungnam (61), Jeju (53), and Seoul (34).

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport investigated 14,938 cases of domestic land transactions by foreigners nationwide over six years from 2017 to 2022 and detected 437 suspected illegal activities. The photo is not directly related to specific expressions in the article. [Image source=Pixabay]

This is the first time the government has conducted a planned investigation into foreign land transactions. The Ministry of Land plans to continue investigations to eradicate foreign speculation. From this month through October, a second investigation will be conducted over four months into speculative housing transactions by foreigners. Investigations into non-residential transactions such as officetels will also be conducted concurrently. Of the 920 cases targeted in this investigation, more than half involve farmland transactions (490 cases), and related data will be provided to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to verify violations of the Farmland Act and other regulations.

To eradicate foreign speculation, the government plans to enforce the Real Estate Transaction Reporting Act starting October 19, which allows authorities designated as land transaction permission zones to restrict transactions by specific foreigners. Institutional improvements will also be pursued to verify foreigners’ residence status, domestic residency, and family relationships.

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