CCEJ: "One in Three Presidential Secretariat Officials Owns a Home in Gangnam"

A recent analysis by a civic group has revealed that one out of every three senior officials at the Presidential Secretariat owns a home in the Gangnam area of Seoul.

Jamsil Apartment. Photo by Jo Yongjun

The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) held a press conference at its auditorium in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on December 10, 2025, and announced the results of its analysis of the real estate holdings of 28 out of 51 members of the Presidential Secretariat whose assets have been disclosed.

According to the CCEJ, nine officials owned a total of 15 homes in the three districts commonly referred to as Gangnam-Gangnam-gu, Seocho-gu, and Songpa-gu. Specifically, spokesperson Kang Yoojeong, protocol secretary Kwon Hyukki, press support secretary Kim Sangho, policy chief Kim Yongbeom, senior civil affairs secretary Bong Wook, land and transport secretary Lee Sunghoon, management secretary Lee Jeongdo, civil affairs secretary Lee Taehyung, and senior personnel secretary Jo Sungjoo were identified as owning homes in these three districts.

In other areas of Seoul outside Gangnam, five officials owned six homes. In the greater metropolitan area excluding Seoul, ten officials owned ten homes, while in other regions, seven officials owned seven homes.

Of the 28 officials analyzed, 23 (82.1%) owned at least one home, and eight (28.6%) owned two or more homes. The 23 homeowners, together with their spouses, owned a total of 38 homes.

The average real estate assets of the 23 homeowners amounted to 2.03 billion won, which is 4.9 times the average real estate assets of ordinary households, calculated at 420 million won. Among them, the top five officials held an average of 5.42 billion won in real estate assets per person.

Press support secretary Kim reported the highest real estate assets at 7.5 billion won, followed by civil affairs secretary Lee at 5.85 billion won, senior social affairs secretary Moon Jinyoung at 5.2 billion won, overseas press secretary Choi Seonga at 4.65 billion won, and spokesperson Kang at 3.89 billion won. The CCEJ pointed out, "Among the 12 officials who own homes in Seoul, four are renting them out under jeonse contracts, making it unclear whether they are actually residing in those homes."

Of the 28 officials, 11 also owned non-residential buildings, with seven out of 15 such properties (46.7%) located in Seoul. The CCEJ also raised doubts about the actual use of these properties, noting that the 11 officials who own non-residential buildings were also renting them out under jeonse contracts.

Based on this analysis, the CCEJ called for institutional reforms to prevent real estate speculation by senior public officials and address housing inequality. The organization emphasized, "To resolve controversies over real estate holdings among senior public officials, the ownership and trading of land and homes other than a single primary residence should, in principle, be prohibited for high-ranking officials." They added, "Genuine housing policy for ordinary citizens must focus on normalizing the housing allocation system, innovating the structure of public housing supply, and banning the purchase of homes for rental purposes."

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