“LH employees speculated in Gwangmyeong and Siheung, mobilizing techniques to receive good land compensation, such as planting trees and splitting shares”

Input 2021.03.03 17:30

The social impact is spreading to the extent that President Moon Jae-in ordered a total land transaction investigation on workers and families of new housing development departments in relation to the alleged speculation of districts in Gwangmyeong and Siheung new towns by Korean Land and Housing Corporation (LH) employees on the 3rd. This is because there has been a growing consensus that LH employees have forgotten their duty as a public corporation in charge of national housing stability and have used internal information to speculate on land.

Real estate experts analyzed that there are a number of typical ways to get good land compensation. This is the reason why it is pointed out that LH employees, who would have a lot of knowledge in compensation work, used it backward.

The first thing to point out is’split the stake. Splitting shares is a method of securing a large number of occupancy rights by dividing the shares before designating the district. The land area (5025㎡) in Gwarim-dong, Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, was split into four areas after the sale contract was signed in February last year, meeting LH’s large-soil compensation standard of 1,000㎡ or more.

It is pointed out that extensive tree planting is also a way to increase the amount of land compensation. This is because planting trees ahead of land reclamation to increase the compensation price is a method that has been mobilized for a long time.

According to a report published by the Korea Institute of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (currently, the Korea Institute for Land and Housing) in September 2009,’Are there any soaring compensation costs and breakthroughs?’ In the case of dam construction, after the planned construction site was announced, some residents of the area In some cases, the land compensation amount was more than three times higher than the original estimated amount, recording 1.17 trillion won.

Some pointed out whether the submission of the farmland plan was intended to be recognized as a long-term farming business operator. According to the real estate industry, it is known that if you are recognized as a farming business, you can receive not only housing but also shopping district sales rights.

Another analysis suggests that it may have been in mind to buy blind paper cheaply to inflate the value and then to receive the reward for the good soil. According to the real estate industry, part of the land in Siheung City that LH employees purchased was blind land that was not connected to roads.

Mengji usually has no development value, so it is traded at a low price, and it is said that the return on investment can be increased if it is compensated for the good soil near the Gwangmyeong and Siheung districts. An official in the construction industry said, “Purchasing land with great soil in mind requires a tremendous brain game, but there is no possibility at all,” he said.

Of course, their allegations of speculation have not been confirmed as true. If the suspicion turns out to be true, according to the Special Act on Public Housing, they are subject to imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million won. In addition, property or property gains acquired pursuant to the Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (Corruption Prevention Rights Violation Act) may be confiscated or collected.

Some say that punishment will not be easy. This is because Gwangmyeong and Siheung new cities were once designated as housing districts and then canceled. It is the logic that it is difficult to reveal that the information obtained during work was used because it is a known point as it is known.

An official in the real estate industry said, “It is not easy to say that it is a situation full of circumstances, but when we saw that splitting of shares or planting crops was carried out, it seems that the thought of receiving compensation rather than buying land would have been stronger.” “It seems that the process of revealing this point will not be easy legally.”