Prosecutors Summon Former Policy Chief Jang Ha-sung for Investigation into 'Moon Administration Real Estate Data Manipulation Allegations'

The prosecution, investigating allegations that the Moon Jae-in administration manipulated key national statistics such as real estate data, summoned former Blue House Policy Chief Jang Ha-sung for questioning on the 18th.

According to legal circles, the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office summoned former Policy Chief Jang, who is suspected of abuse of authority and violation of the Statistics Act, as a suspect on the morning of the same day. Jang served as the inaugural Policy Chief at the Presidential Secretariat during the Moon Jae-in administration from May 2017 to November 2018. He is accused of instructing the Blue House around June 2017 to receive weekly Seoul apartment sales price statistics ahead of the legal deadline.

Jang Ha-sung, Former Chief of Policy Office at the Blue House / Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

This investigation began at the request of the Board of Audit and Inspection. The Board alleged that the Moon Jae-in administration’s Blue House and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport forced the Korea Real Estate Board to manipulate statistical figures at least 94 times from 2017 to 2021, and requested the prosecution to investigate 22 people, including four former Policy Chiefs (Jang Ha-sung, Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Sang-jo, and Lee Ho-seung).

According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, during his tenure, Jang demanded the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to report the 'confirmed figures' of housing price fluctuation rates (investigated over 7 days and announced the next day) before publication, as well as 'midweek figures' (investigated over 3 days and reported) and 'flash figures' (investigated over 7 days and reported immediately), stating that weekly statistical announcements were insufficient to verify the effectiveness of measures. Under current law, providing statistics under preparation to other agencies before publication is illegal.

The Board believes that such leaks continued during the tenures of successors Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Sang-jo, and Lee Ho-seung as Policy Chiefs. Former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi also appeared before the prosecution as a suspect and was questioned on the 16th.

Meanwhile, the prosecution requested arrest warrants for former 1st Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Yoon Sung-won and former Administrator of the Administrative City Construction Agency Lee Moon-gi, who are suspected of involvement in the statistical manipulation, but the court dismissed the requests on the 8th.