Foreigners own 1.2 billion worth of land

Land owned by foreigners as of the first half of the year surpassed 1.2 billion won by a publicly posted price scale. The figure was obtained by Rep. Yun Han-Do of the Grand National Party, who serves on the Construction-Transportation Committee, on the basis of material submitted to the National Assembly Sunday by the Ministry of Construction and Transportation in preparation for an upcoming parliamentary inspection. The land acquired by foreigners at the end of June covers 96,516,000 square meters in over 1,300 plots with a cash value of over 1.2 trillion won.

By nationality, the United States owned the largest portion of land at 53,199,000 square meters (4.5 billion won), followed by the Japanese with 11,984,000 square meters (1.1 billion won) and British and Germans, whose combined ownership stands at 10,929,000 square meters (1,3 billion won). The figures showed a more than threefold increase in home and commercial sites and an over twofold increase in factory sites over the past two years.