[Exclusive][Free Pass Farmland Qualification⑤] 100% Issuance Upon Application... 11 Cities and Counties Including Icheon-si and Gapyeong-gun

Saplings such as Salix koreensis were planted on a piece of land in Mujinae-dong, Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, where allegations of land speculation by some employees of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) in the Gwangmyeong-Siheung New Town have been raised, on the 10th of last month.
Siheung - Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

It has been revealed that there are 11 cities and counties in Gyeonggi-do that issue farmland acquisition qualification certificates 100% of the time when an application is submitted.

According to data exclusively obtained by Asia Economy on the 22nd through the office of Kim Eun-hye, a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the People Power Party, titled 'Number of Applications and Issuances of Gyeonggi-do Farmland Acquisition Qualification Certificates by Year in the Last 5 Years,' from 2017 to March 2021, the places with a 100% issuance-to-application ratio were Gapyeong-gun, Deogyang-gu in Goyang-si, Gunpo-si, Gimpo-si, Bucheon-si, Sangnok-gu in Ansan-si, Anyang-si, Osan-si, Icheon-si, Hwaseong-si (based on Dongtan branch office), and Hyangnam-eup in Hwaseong-si, totaling 11 locations.

Among these, the place with the highest number of applications and issuances was Icheon-si, recording 25,032 cases. It was followed by Gapyeong-gun (12,294 cases), Hyangnam-eup in Hwaseong-si (7,314 cases), Deogyang-gu in Goyang-si (6,130 cases), and Gimpo-si (3,091 cases).

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi-do detected three suspected cases of speculation involving employees of the provincial government in the first internal investigation conducted earlier this month regarding public officials' real estate speculation, and has either filed complaints or requested investigations.

Among them, Mr. A purchased a partial share (33㎡) of farmland (2,500㎡) in Hyeondeok-myeon, Pyeongtaek-si in March 2018 and fraudulently obtained a farmland acquisition qualification certificate by falsely stating his age and occupation as a 61-year-old housewife at the time of application.

Mr. B, before his appointment as a public official, jointly acquired 4,960㎡ in Hyeondeok-myeon with two acquaintances in October 2015 and sold part of it, 2,980㎡, in March this year.

Through this, Mr. B and the two acquaintances earned a sales profit of around 600 million KRW, of which Mr. B's profit was analyzed by the province to be 120 million KRW. Like Mr. A, Mr. B also fraudulently obtained a farmland acquisition qualification certificate and did not actually engage in farming activities.

The provincial investigation team is also auditing whether current and former provincial government employees and their families speculated in the 3rd phase new towns and seven land development districts over 1 million square meters within the province.