Kim Hee-jeong, a member of the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the People Power Party, introduced a bill to root out foreign landlords' jeonse deposit fraud and reckless real estate speculation.
On the 8th, Kim held a press conference at the National Assembly and said she had introduced five bills in total, including the "three bills to prevent foreign landlords from running off with jeonse deposits" and the "two bills to prevent foreign speculation."
According to the "special investigation into abnormal real estate transactions by foreigners" released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 22nd of last month, a total of 416 violations were uncovered, including 236 false reports, 77 cases of expedient gifts, and 50 cases of illegal inflows of overseas funds. The Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) has repaid about 16 billion won in jeonse deposits on behalf of foreign landlords using taxpayer money over the past four years, and 15.6 billion won of that has yet to be recovered.
In response, Kim proposed a bill to mandate an "escrow system" that requires foreign lease business operators to deposit performance bonds and to establish grounds for "departure bans" on foreigners who do not return deposits. She also moved to expand the scope of information disclosure, including nationality and residency status, for malicious foreign landlords.
Measures to block foreign real estate speculators were also included. In the first half of 2025, domestically held land by foreigners totaled about 194,000 parcels, up 23% from 2020, with an area equivalent to 93 times Yeouido.
The amendments would shift foreign land acquisition to a general permit system and apply reciprocity to ban domestic land ownership by foreigners from countries that prohibit Korean nationals from owning land. They would also impose a 20% punitive tax rate when foreigners acquire real estate to block speculative demand, while exempting investments such as in free economic zones.
Kim said, "We can no longer turn a blind eye to or tolerate acts of plundering the people's property outside the protection of our laws just because they are foreigners," adding, "We must secure stability in the domestic real estate market through strong regulations on foreign capital that views real estate solely as a tool for speculation."