[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] It has been revealed that knowledge industry centers, established to support and foster advanced industries such as IT and manufacturing, are suffering from illegal leasing and real estate speculation.
According to the 'Investigation on Legal Violations of Knowledge Industry Centers' data submitted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to Assemblyman Shin Jeong-hoon (The Democratic Party, Jeonnam Naju·Hwasun) of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee, the number of illegal cases such as illegal leasing of knowledge industry centers reached 41 in the past five years (2015 to July 2020), with a concentration in Seoul (14 cases) and Gyeonggi (14 cases).
Although knowledge industry centers are only allowed to house designated industries under the 'Industrial Cluster Activation Act,' the lack of regular inspections by the managing agency, Korea Industrial Complex Corporation (responsible for centers within industrial complexes), and local governments (supervising centers outside industrial complexes) has led to rampant illegal leasing.
In particular, according to the data submitted to Assemblyman Shin, tenants unrelated to the purpose of establishing knowledge industry centers, such as the Shincheonji group, ballet studios, art studios, and suspected multi-level marketing companies, were confirmed to be occupying these centers.
The detection of these tenants was mostly due to external triggers or event-driven investigations such as Seoul City's 'COVID-19 related Shincheonji facility investigation' and 'report submissions,' rather than continuous management and supervision by regulatory agencies.
The issue of real estate speculation turning knowledge industry centers into speculative products has also been revealed to be at a serious level.
According to the 2019 'Study on Improvement Measures for Tenant Restrictions in Knowledge Industry Centers within Industrial Complexes' data submitted by the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation to Assemblyman Shin Jeong-hoon, the average transaction price per square meter of buildings in nationwide knowledge industry centers (individual locations) rose about 53%, from 2.25 million KRW in 2006 to 3.44 million KRW in 2016.
Assemblyman Shin Jeong-hoon said, "Knowledge industry centers are industrial facilities that receive policy support such as acquisition tax reductions to promote the concentration and activation of advanced industries. However, illegal leasing allows unrelated industries to move in, and real estate speculation increases occupancy costs, causing actual demand companies to suffer. Therefore, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, as the competent authority, should present effective measures such as strengthening management and supervision systems and managing tenant company databases."
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