Employees of the HR Innovation Office are reviewing the disclosure list of regular property change reports for senior public officials in 2021 at the Government Complex Sejong on the 24th. News 1
‘91.11 million won.’
Jeonju Hansung Hotel Congressman Lee Jae Kim Property -900 million won
Due to the large gap between the quoted price and the market price 8 months ago
Reported 1 billion won, Jae-myung Lee, Governor Lee’s apartment market price is 2.1 billion won
Concealment of property for refusal of notification
This is the total amount of assets reported this year by Rep. Kim Lee-jae of the Jeollabuk-do Council. Rep. Kim reported that his fortune decreased by 1,250.15 million won from last year (34.204 million won). Rep. Kim was found to have the least wealth among 1885 high-ranking public officials at the level 1 or higher, including the administration, local governments, and the Blue House, disclosed on the 24th.
Rep. Kim’s wealth decreased significantly because financial debts increased by 1.36 billion won from the previous filing. Rep. Kim explained, “I received a loan and finished paying the inheritance tax that I had for five years, and used it for the remodeling of my hotel.”
Listed price of 2.5 billion won, loan of 3 billion won
Representative Kim is the owner of the Jeonju Hansung Hotel, located in Gosa-dong, Jeonju-si, Jeonbuk. Jeonju Hansung Hotel, first built in 1949, is a two-star hotel with a building area of 3293m2 and 40 rooms. In the last two property reports, Congressman Kim wrote down the hotel’s published price. It was 2.518.87 million won last year, and this year it is 25.44.83 million won, an increase of 26.04 million won. According to Congressman Kim, three years ago, the hotel’s appraisal amount was about 6 billion won. After trusting a hotel last year, Congressman Kim received a loan of 2,993 million won from Saemaul Geumgo. It is about 400 million won more than the official price.
Rep. Kim reported his wealth of 5,89394 million won while running for the Provincial Assembly as a member of the Democratic Party in 2018. At the time, Congressman Kim explained that there was a change in the amount of hotel assets before the election as the appraisal amount and later as the publicly announced land price.
Report the published price that cannot reflect the reality
Congressman Kim did not violate the current law. However, it can be seen as an example that showed the poor quality of the property reporting system for public officials.
According to the Enforcement Decree of the Public Officials Ethics Act, public officials are required to report land and housing property at the higher of the’evaluated amount (publicized price) or actual transaction price (acquisition price)’. Most public officials use the published price when reporting real estate property. Last year, when the government decided to raise the real estate listed price realization rate to 90%, the listed price rose significantly. Last year, the official price of apartment houses increased by 5.98% on average nationwide and 19.08% this year (before finalization), and the actualization rate also rose 1.2 percentage points from 69.0% last year to 70.2%. As the publicly announced price rose, the increase in the assets of 1885 public officials as compiled by the Government Officials Ethics Committee was 131.1 million won.
Property of public officials. Graphic = Reporter Kim Kyung-jin [email protected]
Nevertheless, there are criticisms that the result of reporting the property of public officials still does not reflect the reality. This property disclosure was reported as of December 31 of last year, and the real estate property is the published price in 2020. There is a time difference of about 8 months between the announcement of the official price (in April) and the time of reporting the property (as of December).
Given this situation, many public officials with expensive apartments in the Gangnam area of Seoul report the value of their apartments below 1 billion won. The official price of the apartment (129.73㎡) in Bangbae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, where the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Byeon Chang-heum resides last year was 657 million won, and Minister Byeon reported that the total assets were 684 million won. However, the actual transaction price of a similar area (105.74㎡) of this apartment was 1.48 billion won (5th floor) in January. Gyeonggi Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myeong, who jointly owns a 164.25m2 apartment exclusively for an apartment in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, with his wife reported the apartment for 1.13 billion won, but in December last year the same apartment and apartment of the same size were sold for 2.1 billion won.
2.5 billion won apartment, reported property is 200 million won
The rent for apartments has soared sharply due to the influence of the’three lease laws’ enforced in August last year. For this reason, there are cases in which the deposit for jeonse is almost the same as or even exceeds the official price of an apartment. Pohang Mayor Lee Kang-deok owned a 121.08m2 apartment in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and the official price of this apartment was 1.67 billion won, and as of the end of last year, the price of this apartment (Korea Real Estate Agency) was 2.57 billion to 2.75 billion won. This market has been declared at the published price.
However, the amount received as a deposit when the mayor rented the apartment last year was 1.47 billion won. It is only 200 million won difference from the published price. Since the cheonsei deposit is taken as a building lease debt, the higher the cheonsei deposit, the more the property is reduced. The reported property of apartments exceeding 2.5 billion won is only 200 million won, which is less than a tenth of this.
Kim Seong-dal, director of the Real Estate Construction Reform Headquarters of the Federation for Economic Justice and Practice, argued that “the public officials’ property has no choice but to be reduced or distorted to the public as the public price does not reflect the market price.”
‘Refusal of notification’ as a means of concealing property
Officials from the Citizens’ Alliance for Economic Justice are holding hand signs urging the 21st National Assembly member to report to the Election Commission and to verify property reports after election at the Gyeongsilryeon auditorium in Jongno-gu, Seoul. On this day, the Gyeongsilryeon revealed the property details of 175 newly registered members of the 21st National Assembly. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that the property details reported by the Election Commission at the time of candidates for the National Assembly and the property reported by the National Assembly increased 170 billion won after the election. News 1
Under the current law, the spouse of the person subject to property reporting must register the property, but the property of a direct surviving or descendant can be denied notification in the case of a surviving or descendant who maintains an independent livelihood. According to the Government Officials Ethics Committee, this year’s refusal rate of public officials’ property disclosure was 34.2%, the highest in the past five years.
Civic groups such as the Gyeongsil Ryeon are constantly raising concerns about this, but the government is at a loss. “It is clear that the refusal of notice is being used as a means of concealing the property of public officials, but the government’s willingness to improve is not seen.”
The punishment of the cotton bat is also a problem. According to the Public Officials Ethics Act, false reports may result in imprisonment for up to one year, fines up to 10 million won, and disciplinary action or dismissal. However, it is difficult to regard a false report simply by saying that the reported amount is wrong. Penalties are only applied if it is judged to be unfaithful based on the amount and type of the report subject and the circumstances at the time of the report.
Reporter Kim Won [email protected]
