Song Chul-ho’s wife’splitting shares’ Yongin land…”As if bitten by a planning real estate”

“In the 2000s, tourist buses filled with people would come and go from time to time to see the mountains. Real estate companies used to bring in a bunch of people and show them the mountains.”

This is the saying of Mr. A, the 50th president, who has been operating a fishing site for over 20 years in a reservoir around Pyeongchang-ri, Yang-myeon, Cheoin-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do. Mr. A said on the 18th, “Since the early 2000s, this area was noisy with planned real estate companies.” He said, “People often asked where the mountain was when they did not know where their land was, and when they bought the land through a projected real estate,” he said.

According to the city of Ulsan, Song Chul-ho, the wife of the Ulsan Mayor, Hong Mo, 68, bought a part of the forest for 59.2 million won in July 2009. A real estate brokerage company sold the land to 91 people, including Mr. Hong. ‘Splitting the stake’ is a suspected technique. According to a certified copy of the real estate register, after two years, the lot was divided into nine, and one of them is jointly owned by 10 people, including Mr. Hong. Hong’s stake is 393㎡ (approximately 118 pyeong) out of the total 3504㎡.

Mr. Hong’s stake, Limya, was hundreds of meters away from the fishing spot where the reporter stopped. The place the fishing site owner pointed to was just an ordinary mountain. It was impossible to check the parcels and stakes with the public’s eyes. When I inquired with Yongin City, a reply came back saying, “We are not aware of the condition of the lot.”

Nearby residents affirmed that the mountains in Pyeongchang-ri were lands where planned real estate companies intervened in transaction tax. This means that it is a transaction aimed at speculation or investment. A resident in his 80s living near the land he owns said, “These mountains are usually rumored to be divided into lands bought by several people through planning real estate.” He said, “The residents don’t know anything and just live, but the recent Korean Land and Housing Corporation (LH) situation makes me feel bitter.”

If the land was purchased through a split-stake method with a real estate company, it is the norm in the real estate industry to view it as speculation aimed at development profits. Yoo, who has been a real estate agent in Yangji for more than 20 years, said, “At that time, planning real estate companies were attracting a lot of housewives, saying that rural housing complexes and roads would be built around Pyeongchang-ri.”

However, Mr. Yoo said, “It seems like only the boats of a real estate company have been called.” He said, “I bought it when I heard that the surrounding area was developed, but I bought it without recognizing the low land use, so I was scammed.” The residents of the land where Mr. Hong lived also said, “At the time, clubs and other communities bought the surrounding mountain through planning real estate.” “Since we bought it without knowing it well in Seoul, Ulsan, etc. I do” he said.

Then, as SK Hynix decided to build the world’s largest semiconductor cluster general industrial complex in Wonsam-myeon, Cheoin-gu, near Pyeongchang-ri, the expectations of residents also increased. A resident who has lived in Yangji for more than 30 years said, “We are regretting that we should have bought land anywhere in the vicinity.”

Song’s position is that it is not speculation aimed at development profits. He said, “My spouse bought it at the recommendation of a disciple when he was a nursing professor.” Mayor Song retired from politics in 2009 and worked as a lawyer in Ulsan. After returning to politics in 2011, he was elected Mayor of Ulsan in 2018. Mayor Song said that it would dispose of the controversial land as soon as possible. Mayor Song said, “Regardless of the outcome, I am sorry that all the people are having a lot of controversy over real estate speculation.

Yongin·Ulsan=Reporters Chae Hye-seon·Baek Gyeong-seo [email protected]