Cheon Ha-ram, acting party leader and floor leader of the Reform Party, said on the 6th that Minister of National Defense nominee Kang Shin-cheol obtained an apartment in Seocho District, Seoul, through a "special allocation for displaced residents" by using a fake address transfer.
Holding a press conference at the National Assembly that day, Floor Leader Cheon said, "We believe Kang, the nominee, deliberately used a fake address transfer to obtain the status of a displaced resident and received an apartment in Seocho District, now worth 2.2 billion won on the market, through a 'special allocation for displaced residents.'"
According to Floor Leader Cheon, in Jul. 1997 Kang received a dwelling in Cheonwang-dong, Guro District, Seoul, as a gift. In Jul. 2007, Kang was assigned to the 8th Regiment of the 7th Division in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, and transferred his address to a military apartment in the area. Eight months later, in Mar. 2008, while serving in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, Kang filed a move-in report to the gifted dwelling in Guro District with a spouse.
Seven months after Kang transferred his address to the dwelling in Guro District, in Oct. 2008 the Guro District Office purchased the Cheonwang-dong dwelling for compensation to relocate the Seoul Southern Detention Center. Kang is said to have obtained eligibility as a displaced resident at that time. After obtaining displaced resident status, Kang moved back to the military apartment in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, where he had previously filed a move-in report. About four years after obtaining the status, in Aug. 2012, Kang acquired an apartment in Seocho Nature Hill Complex 3 in Seocho District through a "special allocation for displaced residents."
Floor Leader Cheon said, "The sale price at the time was 520 million won, but the current market price has soared to 2.2 billion won, up about 1.7 billion won, or 323%," adding, "This is someone who inflated assets to 2.2 billion won by illegally applying for an apartment reserved for displaced residents through 'cosplaying' as a displaced resident."
Cheon added, "Isn't Kang, the nominee, the very person behind what President Lee Jae-myung called 'unearned income that destroys fairness and common sense'?" and said, "It is hypocrisy for a government that says it will break free from a republic of unearned income to seat as Minister of National Defense someone who grew wealth through real estate windfalls."