Chairman Hong Seong-yeol, who purchased 'Park Geun-hye and MB residences,' also bought Moon Jae-in's residence

Former President Park's residence in Samseong-dong

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] It has been reported that Hong Seong-yeol, chairman of Mario Outlet, purchased the residence in Maegok-dong, Yangsan-si, Gyeongnam, where former President Moon Jae-in lived before his inauguration. Chairman Hong had previously acquired the Seoul Samsung-dong residence of former President Park Geun-hye and the Seoul Nonhyeon-dong residence of former President Lee Myung-bak.

According to a compilation of Asia Economy's coverage on the 26th, the registered owner of the building of former President Moon’s Maegok-dong residence was changed to Chairman Hong as of the previous day. The reason for registration was due to a sales contract made in February. The purchase price of the residence was confirmed to be 2.6 billion KRW. Former President Moon is currently staying at a residence prepared in Pyeongsan Village, Jisan-ri, Habuk-myeon, Yangsan, after his retirement this month. This move was due to concerns that the Maegok-dong residence was unsuitable for security reasons. It is known that former President Moon sold the Maegok-dong residence to cover the construction costs of the new residence in Pyeongsan Village.

Hong Seong-yeol, Chairman of Mario Outlet

Earlier, Chairman Hong also purchased former President Park’s Samsung-dong residence in 2017. The purchase price at that time was 6.7 billion KRW. The Samsung-dong residence was where former President Park lived for about 23 years from 1990 until February 2013, before entering the Blue House. Chairman Hong also acquired former President Lee’s Nonhyeon-dong residence last year. He won the bid for the Nonhyeon-dong residence, which was auctioned to recover unpaid fines and penalties of former President Lee, at 11.156 billion KRW.

Chairman Hong, who has 'swept up' former presidents’ residences, is a figure who achieved great success by opening Mario Outlet, Korea’s first urban outlet store, in Gasan-dong, Geumcheon-gu, Seoul in 2001. After founding Mario Sangsa in 1980, he is also recognized as a 'first-generation fashion leader' who successfully established the knitwear brand 'Carte Knit' in both domestic and international markets in 1985.