Public Procurement Service Nationalizes 6.99 Million Square Meters of Real Estate Registered Under Japanese Names

Real estate registered under Japanese names, totaling an area 2.4 times the size of Yeouido in Seoul, has been reverted to state ownership.

On August 13, the Public Procurement Service announced that it has nationalized 6.99 million square meters of real estate that had been owned by Japanese individuals during the Japanese occupation.

Provided by Public Procurement Service

Since 2012, the Public Procurement Service has been carrying out a project to nationalize real estate registered under the names of Japanese individuals, Japanese institutions, and Japanese corporations in official records such as land registers and real estate registries, as part of efforts to eliminate the remnants of Japanese colonial rule.

Unlike the general transfer of Japanese-owned property to the Korean government at the time of liberation in 1945, some assets registered under Japanese-style names in the registries still remained. This is because it was difficult to verify the owners' nationalities due to name changes under the Soshi-kaimei policy, and because some properties were not settled as their owners died during the Korean War (6·25 War), among other reasons.

To address this, the Public Procurement Service used the registry of Japanese residents in Korea at the time of liberation (the Directory of Japanese Residents in Korea) to identify about 80,000 land parcels suspected of Japanese ownership. Of these, 8,171 parcels (6.73 million square meters) were confirmed as Japanese-owned and nationalized. The total value, based on officially assessed land prices, amounts to 187.3 billion won.

Additionally, the agency explained that it has tracked and investigated properties that were illicitly acquired and concealed by individuals through document forgery and other fraudulent means before the government secured ownership. As a result, it has recovered 197 parcels (260,000 square meters) of real estate worth approximately 9.2 billion won to date.

No Joonghyun, Director General of Public Supplies at the Public Procurement Service, stated, "Nationalizing real estate under Japanese names is a meaningful effort to eliminate the remnants of Japanese colonial rule and correct distorted history," adding, "The Public Procurement Service will continue to track down every parcel of real estate under Japanese names to ensure it is returned to the state."