Land Without Owner Even in Myeongdong at 600 Million Won per Pyeong? ... Nationalization of Land 188 Times Yeouido Underway

ACRC Promotes Special Act on Nationalization of Unregistered Assessed Land
Aims to Enact the Law Within This Year

Land in Myeongdong, where the price per 1㎡ easily exceeds 100 million KRW, will be nationalized. This is because the government is promoting the nationalization of ownerless land across the country. The target is unregistered land estimated to have had no owner for over 100 years, with a public land price totaling about 2.2 trillion KRW.

On the 27th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that it has prepared a special law (Special Act on the Nationalization of Unregistered Land) to have the state manage ‘unregistered assessed land’ that has not been registered for over 100 years, and recommended institutional improvements to seven ministries and agencies including the Ministry of Justice.

Unregistered assessed land refers to land whose owner, area, and boundaries were determined during the land survey under Japanese colonial rule (1910?1935), but registration has not been made for over 100 years due to reasons such as the owner’s death or defection to North Korea. Moreover, even after the enforcement of the Civil Act in 1960, which made registration mandatory, there have been many cases where registration was not done due to cost issues and other reasons.

The special law includes provisions to initially give priority registration opportunities to those registered as owners or their heirs, and for the remaining land to be owned by the state. If the true owner appears later, ownership will be returned, or if it cannot be returned, compensation will be provided.

Land in Myeongdong, where the price easily exceeds 100 million won per square meter, will be nationalized.

This ‘unregistered assessed land’ includes Myeongdong, which is mentioned as the most expensive land nationwide. The scale is 3 parcels (about 1,041㎡). According to the ‘2025 National Standard Housing and Standard Land Official Price (Draft)’ announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 18th, the Nature Republic site (169.3㎡) in Chungmuro 1-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, was the most expensive land at 180.5 million KRW per 1㎡. Converted to pyeong (about 3.3㎡), it is approximately 595.65 million KRW. The top eight most expensive lands nationwide are all located near the Nature Republic site in the Myeongdong area. Even if the Myeongdong unregistered land is valued at only 100 million KRW per pyeong, it easily exceeds 1 trillion KRW. Nationwide, unregistered land is estimated to be about 188 times the size of Yeouido (2.9㎢) and about 1.6% of the domestic land area. Such land has been problematic because if included in development projects, ownership cannot be confirmed, causing delays or cancellations.

Chairman Yoo Cheol-hwan of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission is briefing on January 24 at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, about the comprehensive measures for unregistered private land, which were reported to the Cabinet after four years of field surveys and policy research projects. Photo by Yonhap News

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission recommended that the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Court Administration, and Public Procurement Service support institutional improvements to enable the enforcement of the special law.

Yoo Cheol-hwan, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, said, “By organizing unregistered land, residential environments will improve, and private land development projects are expected to proceed more quickly,” adding, “We will work with related ministries to enact the law by the end of this year.”

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