Out of 15 Ministers and Vice Ministers appointed since July last year, five (33%) were found to own real estate in the three Gangnam districts of Seoul (Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa) in their own or family members' names. Of these, four were confirmed to have reported an asset aggregates exceeding 5 billion won.
The Government Public Officials Ethics Committee disclosed at 12 a.m. on the 30th, via the official gazette, the changes in assets of 362 senior public officials. The data includes changes in assets for incumbent and former officials appointed or retired between July 2 and Nov. 1 last year. The release had been delayed due to a system outage caused by a fire at the National Information Resources Service in September last year.
According to the data, four Ministers— Koo Yun-cheol Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance, Bae Kyung-hoon Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Kim Jung-kwan Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, and Han Seong-sook Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups—own apartments (including pre-sale rights) in the Gangnam, Seocho, or Songpa districts of Seoul in their own or their spouses' names. At the Vice Minister level, the 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Kim Young-su, was included.
Lee Eog-weon, Chairperson of the Financial Services Commission, reported a total of 2,014,760,000 won, including 1,309,300,000 won for an apartment in Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu that had sparked controversy over "gap investment" (buying with a jeonse tenant) after taking office. Lee bought an apartment in the Jugoong 1st complex in Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, slated for reconstruction, for 850,000,000 won just before an overseas posting in 2013, but did not live there; it is known that after reconstruction was completed recently, Lee has been residing there. The current market price is in the 4 billion won range.
Among incumbents, Lee Chan-jin, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, ranked second in reported amount (38,488,750,000 won), reporting two apartments in Umyeon-dong, Seocho-gu under his and his spouse's names; buildings including commercial space worth 2,952,070,000 won; and deposits of 31,051,610,000 won, totaling 38,488,750,000 won. After controversy over owning two apartments in Gangnam, one was sold, but that was not reflected in this release.
Among the presidential office staff, two were also confirmed to own dwellings in the three Gangnam districts. Senior Secretary for Public Relations Planning Jo Han-sang reported one apartment in Songpa-gu in his own name and one apartment in Gangnam-gu in his parents' names, and National Situation Room Chief Kim Jeong-woo reported one apartment in Seocho-gu in a spouse's name.