Investigation and Analysis of Real Estate by Current and Former Senior Officials of the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the Prime Minister's Office
"Massive Benefits Gained as Housing Prices Rise Due to Real Estate Policy Failures"
[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] It has been revealed that the apartment prices of current and former high-ranking officials of the Prime Minister's Office, including Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon, have risen by more than 500 million KRW over the past three years.
The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) held a press conference on the 29th at the CCEJ auditorium in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and announced the results of an investigation and analysis of the real estate assets of 35 current and former high-ranking officials of grade 1 or higher within the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the Prime Minister's Office.
According to CCEJ, the price per apartment owned by these officials increased from 780 million KRW in early May 2017, at the beginning of the Moon Jae-in administration, to 1.29 billion KRW currently, marking a rise of 510 million KRW (65.1%).
The property with the largest price increase was the building in Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, owned by Koo Yoon-chul, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, and Choi Chang-won, First Deputy Minister of the Prime Minister's Office (1.5 billion KRW → 3.1 billion KRW, an increase of 1.6 billion KRW). Following were ▲Na Young-sun, President of the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, owning a building in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul (1.97 billion KRW → 3.1 billion KRW, an increase of 1.12 billion KRW) ▲Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon's building in Jamwon-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul (1.12 billion KRW → 2.1 billion KRW, an increase of 980 million KRW) ▲Ahn Taek-soon, Director of the Tax Tribunal at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, owning a building in Bangbae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul (1.26 billion KRW → 2.22 billion KRW, an increase of 960 million KRW).
CCEJ stated, "High-ranking officials of the current government are enjoying enormous benefits as housing prices rise due to the failure of real estate policies," and criticized, "Minister Kim Hyun-mi of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport claimed that the apartment price increase rate in Seoul was 14.2%, but this shows a lack of understanding of the actual situation."
CCEJ also pointed out the issue of underreporting of real estate assets by these officials. According to CCEJ, the average declared price per apartment among the 35 high-ranking officials in the Prime Minister's Office was 720 million KRW. This is 570 million KRW less than the market price of 1.29 billion KRW, representing only 55.9% of the market value. Among the top 10 properties with the lowest market price reflection rate, the declared price was 540 million KRW, the market price was 1.3 billion KRW, and the difference was 770 million KRW.
CCEJ urged, "We hope that public officials will actively work toward legal amendments to disclose real estate assets at market prices even now," and demanded, "We also expect the Prime Minister and the President to take a stance on the Ministry of Land's manipulation of housing price fluctuation statistics and the manipulation of official land prices."
Meanwhile, the average total declared assets per person among the 35 high-ranking officials in the Prime Minister's Office was 2.53 billion KRW. Of this, the declared real estate assets amounted to 1.66 billion KRW, accounting for 65.5% of the total assets. The declared real estate assets were highest for ▲Lee Ryeon-ju, former Director of the Regulatory Coordination Office (10.53 billion KRW) ▲Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun (4.89 billion KRW) ▲Koo Yoon-chul, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination (4.02 billion KRW) ▲Cha Young-hwan, former Second Deputy Minister of the Prime Minister's Office (3.32 billion KRW) ▲Lee Seok-woo, former Director of the Public Relations Office (2.55 billion KRW) ▲Na Young-sun, President of the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (2.44 billion KRW) ▲Choi Jung-pyo, President of the Korea Development Institute (2.1 billion KRW) ▲Choi Chang-won, First Deputy Minister of the Prime Minister's Office (2 billion KRW) ▲Ahn Taek-soon, Director of the Tax Tribunal (1.97 billion KRW) ▲Former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon (1.81 billion KRW).
Among the 35 high-ranking officials in the Prime Minister's Office, 11 (31.5%) owned multiple houses. Of these, 8 (22.9%) owned two houses, and 3 (8.6%) owned three houses.
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