LAND SPECULATION SCHEME OF GOV’T EMPLOYEE

[Anchor Lead]

A mid-level official of the Presidential Security Service had purchased land due to undergo urban development together with the wife of his brother, an employee of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation. Now investigators found that the land category of the purchased land has been changed from forest to farmland. The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency investigating the case is looking to see if the land category change was part of a speculation scheme.

[Pkg]

This area in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi-do Province is where a new city will be built. A mid-level official of the Presidential Security Service surnamed Oh, purchased land here in September 2017 together with his family and relatives. It measured some 1,800 square meters and was recorded as forest in the land registry. But the land registration map tells a different story. The plot’s lot number was divided into two, a year after the land was purchased. Strangely, the category of two-thirds of the original area was changed to farmland. The change came after a temporary exemption law went into effect for a year in June 2017.

[Soundbite] Official of Gwangmyeong City Hall(VOICE MODIFIED) : "The exemption law provisions were complicated. But they applied for a category change because they were eligible. The change was approved after a review."

Land value increases if the category is changed from forest to farmland. Given the timing of the land purchase, they may have had information on what was coming.

[Soundbite] Real Estate Office Employee(VOICE MODIFIED) : "Farmland is more expensive than forest. That’s why people try to change the land category when they can. I think they can also get more compensation for farmland."

The people who actually work the land embroiled in the recent scandal are not the landowners but nearby residents.

[Soundbite] Farmer of the Purchased Land(VOICE MODIFIED) : "(How did you lease the land?) I’ve been farming here for a long time without a land lease. (Has the landowner ever been here?) He’s not a farmer so he has no reason to come here."

During previous questioning by the presidential office, Oh explained that he bought the land to support his parents after his retirement. The National Office of Investigation said Cheong Wa Dae and the government had requested that 24 public officials allegedly involved in the scandal be investigated. Their cases were subsequently assigned to the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency.