The apartment owned by Park Sang-woo, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, has been confirmed to be included in the first phase new town reconstruction pilot zones announced by the government.
On the 27th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the selection of a total of 13 pilot zones and about 36,000 households to begin reconstruction first in the first phase new towns. Among the five new towns, in Sanbon, Gunpo-si, Gyeonggi Province, 2,758 households in Jaibaeghap, Samsung Rose, and Sanbon Jugong Complex 11, and 1,862 households in Hanyang Baekdu, Dongseong Baekdu, and Geukdong Baekdu were selected as pilot zones.
Among the selected complexes, Hanyang Baekdu is the apartment owned and inhabited by Minister Park. He purchased a unit with an exclusive area of 149.76㎡ in June 2005 and has been living there since. The current market price is 780 million KRW.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated that the evaluation was based solely on the complexes without knowing who resides there. A ministry official said, "The pilot zones were evaluated and selected by local governments according to scoring criteria, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport only conducted the final consultation. Since it is an integrated reconstruction type and evaluated based on residents' consent rates, it is not possible to scrutinize which individuals live in each complex in detail."
Minister Park also faced controversy last year before the confirmation hearing when it was revealed that he had submitted a down contract for this apartment. He reported purchasing the apartment for 269.5 million KRW, although he actually bought it for 380 million KRW. At that time, Minister Park said, "This was the result of entrusting the preparation of the real estate sales contract to a certified real estate agent and a notary public according to the customary practice before the implementation of the actual transaction price reporting system," and added, "I regret that it does not meet the current standards." The system was implemented in 2006, one year after Minister Park purchased the Baekdu apartment.
Meanwhile, the Kumho Apartment in Yangji Village Complex 1, Sunae-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, owned by Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was also included in the pilot zones this time. Lee purchased this apartment with an exclusive area of 164.25㎡ for 366 million KRW in 1998 and lived there until 2022. When Lee ran for the National Assembly by-election in Gyeyang-eul, Incheon in 2022, he said he would move his residence to the constituency and sell the house, but he has not disposed of it and is known to have recently leased it. The market price is around 2.25 billion KRW.
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