HOUSE OWNERSHIP OF PRESIDENTIAL AIDES

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At the end of last year, the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae asked its key advisers, who own multiple houses in Seoul and surrounding suburbs, to sell their properties except for one. Six months have passed, but most of the presidential aides still own several houses within the Seoul metropolitan area.

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An apartment complex in Songpa-gu District, Seoul. The wife of Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Jo-won owns a 123-square-meter apartment here. Kim reported the apartment is worth 920 million won, but its actual market price these days is much higher.

[Soundbite] (REAL ESTATE AGENT(VOICE MODIFIED)) : "The price has been rising steadily, to about KRW 1.7 or 1.8 bn."

He owns another apartment worth about 1.6 billion won in the affluent Dogok-dong neighborhood of Gangnam-gu District. Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Society Kim Geo-sung and Secretary to the President for Public Affairs Yeo Hyeon-ho also own multiple homes in the Seoul metropolitan area. The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice analyzed the Cheong Wa Dae staffers' personal assets disclosed between March and June this year and found eight out of 64 former and incumbent officials owned more than two houses in Seoul and surrounding areas. The market prices of their houses increased 730 million won on average since 2017. If the properties outside the Seoul metropolitan area were included, three out of ten officials are owners of multiple homes. Even Cheong Wa Dae Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, who advised public officials to sell their redundant properties back in December, still has two apartments under his name.

[Soundbite] SHIN CHEOL-YOUNG(CO-REPRESENTATIVE, CCEJ) : "An effective housing policy cannot be designed when government officials are amassing wealth through real estate."

Only four officials, including Senior Secretary for Social Affairs Kim Yeon-myung, followed the Chief of Staff's recommendation.

[Soundbite] KIM HEON-DONG(STEERING COMMITTEE, CCEJ) : "These types of officials can never come up with a policy that the Korean people want. It has to change."

According to a high-ranking official at the top office, the Chief of Staff's request was a recommendation, that he would like to see officials with multiple houses sell their properties within six months. A recommendation which still stands today.