Parties have all-out argument over real estate speculation

As soon as the nomination scandal was over, the ruling and opposition parties are having an all-out argument over the suspected real estate speculation by members of the parties. While the Democratic Party of Korea canceled the nomination of Lee Young-seon for ‘gap’ speculation, the People Power Party raised a suspicion that there are several other candidates of the Democratic Party that are suspected to have engaged in similar speculation. The opposition party countered it by raising suspicions over the properties of the People Power Party’s members, escalating the all-out war between the parties over the real estate issues. Some raise concerns that elected candidates may find themselves in real estate scandals after the general elections as some of the members of the 21st National Assembly did four years ago due to the poor verification of candidates by the parties.

“I read yesterday the financial disclosures made on 10 candidates of the Democratic Party yesterday. I will talk about a few of them,” Kim Kyung-ryul, a member of the People Power Party’s emergency response committee, said during a meeting of the party’s central election response committee on Monday and raised suspicions on Kim Gi-pyo, Lee Kang-Ill, and Moon Jin-seog. “Kim Gi-pyo owns two commercial buildings worth 6.5 billion won in Gangseo and Magok, Seoul, and has a debt of 5.7 billion won,” Kim Kyung-ryul said about Kim Gi-pyo. “The party’s leader, Lee Jae-myung, should answer himself whether this is the result of gap speculation or not,” he requested. He also raised suspicions of gal speculation over five commercial buildings owned by Lee and four commercial buildings owned by Moon.

The Democratic Party of Korea countered the ruling party by raising suspicions over real estate speculation by Jang Jin-young and Park Duk-hyum of the People Power Party. The opposition party previously raised suspicion about Jang’s real estate speculation on the basis that he took out a loan to pay for 90 percent of the 2,500-pyeong land he bought in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province under the name of his corporation. “Park is at the center of the speculation scandal as he built a golf course by disguising it as a farm while serving as a National Assembly member,” said Choi Min-seok, the spokesperson of the Democratic Party. “Is Han Dong-hoon, the head of the emergency response committee, planning to let the ruling party become the party of speculation and corruption?” The members of both parties who have suspicions raised against them denied the suspicions and said there was no illegality.

The ruling and opposition parties had to conduct investigations into the real estate ownership of all of their members right after the 21st National Assembly was launched as suspicions over real estate speculation were raised. “Hurried and superficial verification of candidates is what’s causing the issues,” said Professor Park Myung-ho of Political Science and Diplomacy at Dongguk University. “Enough time should be guaranteed for proper verification by completing nomination at least six months before general elections.”


Sung-Hwi Kang yolo@donga.com