Among the lands of the pro-Japanese, the descendants of the pro-Japanese, Hae-seung Hae, have the largest. The official land price is about 2 billion won, but it is said to reach 6 billion won by actual value. The government began to redeem it for over 10 years, but it has failed several times.
Reporter Lee Sang-yeop reported on why.
[기자]
A forest in Seodaemun, Seoul.
It is left unattended along the promenade next to the elementary school.
The size of the land is 27,000 square meters.
Landlord is a descendant of Lee Hae-seung, who received the status of the highest nobility of Joseon from the Japanese colonial rule after the merger between Korea and Japan in 1910.
It is the land of Hongeun-dong in Seoul, owned by the descendants of Lee Hae-seung.
The official land price is expected to exceed 2 billion won and the compensation value will reach 6 billion won.
This is not the only land of Lee Hae-seung’s descendants.
In 2007, the government recovered 192 parcels of Lee Hae-seung’s descendants, and the publicly announced land amounting to 32 billion won.
Accordingly, the descendants of Lee Hae-seung filed a lawsuit against the government.
At the time, the Pro-Japanese Property Attribution Act required the repurchase of the property of a person who received the title for the merit of the Korea-Japan merger.
The descendants argued that they were given the title because they were’relatives of the Joseon royal family’, not because of’the merits of Korea-Japan merger’.
In 2010, the Supreme Court raised the hand of the descendants of Lee Hae-seung.
In 2015, the government filed a lawsuit again, but in the second trial in 2019, it was ruled that only ‘4 square meters’, which was a little more than a cricket, could be returned.
At that time, criticism poured out that the tricks of pro-Japanese descendants worked in court.
Even this has not yet been confirmed by the Supreme Court and has not been returned.
The government is in a position that the Hongeun-dong land will be returned.
[김기수/법무부 국가소송과장 : 더 이상 ‘한일합병의 공’이란 요건이 없습니다. 현행법을 적용해야 하기 때문에 그 부분에 대한 (이해승 후손 측) 항변은 의미가 없는…]
There have been 19 lawsuits against pro-Japanese property since July 2010.
The government won 17 cases and redeemed 26 billion won.