The Democratic Party of Korea is pushing a bill to establish a Real Estate Supervisory Service that can monitor and investigate illegal activities in real estate. As criticism mounts that the Real Estate Supervisory Service could request details of money transactions related to real estate or individuals' loan information without a court warrant and thus "infringe on sensitive personal information," the Democratic Party said that once it is converted into an official investigation, a warrant must be obtained, as in ordinary investigative procedures.
On the 10th, Democratic Party spokesperson for the floor Kim Hyeon-jeong said in a briefing and press release, "There is a misunderstanding about the Real Estate Supervisory Service; its authority is divided into two: direct inquiries and investigations," and added, "At the inquiry stage, it can request various materials like the Financial Supervisory Service does now, and when it is converted to an investigation based on the Criminal Procedure Act, a warrant is mandatory."
She added, "The Real Estate Supervisory Service does not intervene in normal transactions. It manages and supervises only illegal acts," and said, "Because it has not been possible to comprehensively crack down on illegal real estate activities, we decided to establish the Real Estate Supervisory Service under the Prime Minister's Office to plan and coordinate." The following is a Q&A with spokesperson for the floor Kim.
– What is the size of the Real Estate Supervisory Service and how will it be organized?
"It is scheduled to launch with about 100 people, and we plan to maximize expertise by combining secondments from related agencies with the hiring of private-sector experts. Strictly speaking, it will be under the Prime Minister's Office. The head of the Real Estate Supervisory Service will be appointed as a Grade 1 senior civil servant. A Real Estate Supervision Council under the Prime Minister's Office will be established to coordinate and integrate relations between the Real Estate Supervisory Service and eight related ministries. The council will have 15 members, chaired by the second vice minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination. Commissioners will consist of senior officials from the eight ministries, the head of the Real Estate Supervisory Service, and five experts appointed by the Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination."
– When will the Real Estate Supervisory Service launch?
"The Democratic Party aims to pass the bill to establish the Real Estate Supervisory Service in the National Assembly in the first half of 2026 and will move quickly to do so. Under the bill's supplementary provisions, the law takes effect on the day that falls six months after promulgation. If legislation proceeds as planned, a formal launch in the second half of 2026 is expected."
– What work will the Real Estate Supervision Council specifically perform?
"The council is a deliberation and decision-making body under the prime minister. It will oversee inquiry and investigation plans between the Real Estate Supervisory Service and related ministries, and through interagency coordination, it will prevent overlap or gaps in investigations into illegal real estate activities. It will also review in advance the purpose and validity before the head of the Real Estate Supervisory Service requests the provision of financial transaction information or credit information."
– Some say powers such as requesting financial transaction information are excessive and infringe on personal information.
"It is impossible to grasp the substantive truth of sophisticated crimes without tracing the flow of funds. For investigations into capital-market crimes such as stock-price manipulation, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service already use financial transaction information without warrants. We also specified safeguards in the bill to block arbitrary information collection. When forming the council, we will include as an ex officio Commissioner a senior official from the Personal Information Protection Commission to build a constant monitoring system so personal information is not abused. We will request information only in 'unavoidable cases' and to the 'minimum extent,' and we will notify the party concerned within 10 days of any query to fundamentally block 'blind inquiries.'"
– Is there no chance that information obtained without a warrant could later be used in trials or investigations?
"The establishment bill grants the Real Estate Supervisory Service administrative inquiry powers, but strictly separates them from criminal procedures so that the constitutional warrant principle is observed. An inquiry is a preliminary step conducted to verify whether illegal real estate activity occurred, and the investigation stage is where the Criminal Procedure Act applies; therefore, a separate warrant must be obtained again for the evidence to be admissible."