LH EMPLOYEE’S LAND PURCHASE BANNED

[Anchor Lead]

With the investigation underway into the speculative land purchases by the Korea Land and Housing Corporation employees, the government decided to ban LH employees from buying land other than for actual use. When investigators find that speculative buying has taken place, the government will force LH employees to sell the land.

[Pkg]

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun instructed relevant ministers to take extraordinary measures.

[Soundbite] Chung Sye-kyun(Prime Minister) : "We will overhaul the entire internal oversight plan so that LH employees would no longer be able to share inside development info and speculation know-how and commit illegal speculations."

The government decided to ban LH employees from purchasing land other than for actual use. In addition, a system will be built to manage the corporation executives’ land ownership. All the land owned by the LH officials will be examined and any illegal or suspected activities will be subjected to personnel shifts and even investigation. The government plans to strengthen its control of LH employees privy to land development information even before a new project area is chosen. The PM promised tough punishment and complete recovery over the case involving the 20 LH employees under investigation and other alleged land speculations if any of them are found guilty. Article 10 of the Farmland Act will be used to force them to sell the land.

[Soundbite] Chung Sye-kyun(Prime Minister) : "This is an unforgivable crime that trampled on people’s trust and hope and rocked the foundation of a fair society."

The government plans to set up tough oversight measures for farmland acquisition. Farmland acquisition process will be strengthened, including more thorough reviews of farm management plans, and farmland management systems will also be augmented. Chung also mentioned the recent suicides of LH employees and hoped that no such tragedies would occur again.