Vice Minister Jang Miran on Controversy Over Pyeongchang Land Tripling in Value: "My Fault"

Acquired Farmland While Active as a Player in 2007
"Bought to Build a House... Plans Did Not Go as Expected"

Jang Miran, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, apologized, calling the allegations of violating the Farmland Act "my negligence."

On the 1st, SBS reported that Vice Minister Jang purchased farmland measuring 1,225㎡ in Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do, which cannot be acquired unless one is a farmer under the Farmland Act, for 92.75 million won in March 2007 while she was an active athlete, and has held it to this day.

Jang Mi-ran, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is giving a greeting at the opening ceremony of the 'K-Culture Popup' held on August 10th at The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

At the time Vice Minister Jang acquired the land, it was a blind land plot without a road connected to the farmland, but ahead of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, a road was opened in 2015, and the land price based on the individual publicly announced land price has increased about threefold.

Vice Minister Jang, who was active as an athlete after transferring her team affiliation from Wonju City Hall to Goyang City Hall at the time of acquisition, reportedly did not farm the land herself after purchasing it. Nearby residents said that someone farmed the plot every year, but they have never seen Vice Minister Jang there.

Regarding this, Vice Minister Jang explained, "My father, who managed my assets during my athlete days, purchased it to build a house for the family," and added, "The original plan did not go well, and I forgot about owning the land until I prepared to report my assets as a public official this time." She acknowledged the allegations of violating the Farmland Act as "my negligence."

Earlier, Vice Minister Jang disclosed that she owns assets worth 693.45 million won, including the land in question, buildings, and deposits.

According to the status of occasional asset registration of 94 high-ranking public officials published in the electronic gazette by the Government Public Officials Ethics Committee on the 27th of last month, Vice Minister Jang, who took office on July 3, reported actual transaction prices of 142.75 million won for land including paddy fields in Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do (92.75 million won) and forest land in Hoengseong-gun, Gangwon-do (50 million won).

She also reported building assets worth 464 million won, including the leasehold rights of an apartment and commercial building she owns in Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, a 2021 model Grandeur hybrid passenger car (32.99 million won), and deposit assets of 165.375 million won.

After deducting debts owed to NongHyup Bank and loans from NongHyup Bank (111.665 million won) from the total assets, Vice Minister Jang’s net assets amount to 693.45 million won.

Jang Miran, a world-class weightlifter who achieved four consecutive world championship titles and won Olympic medals of gold, silver, and bronze ? silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics, gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and bronze at the 2012 London Olympics ? has been a professor in the Department of Physical Education at Yongin University since 2016 and was suddenly appointed as the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, responsible for sports and tourism policy, at the end of June.

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