The Seoul city government said on the 12th it will inspect all 114 regional housing cooperatives in Seoul that are recruiting members or are in the stage after approval of establishment to systematically diagnose overall cooperative operations and improve structural problems.
Typically, in redevelopment and reconstruction projects, homeowners or land owners become cooperative members and push the project forward. However, in regional housing cooperatives, people without homes or those who own small dwellings form a cooperative to promote the project and secure land during the process. Because of this structural difference, problems such as corruption and embezzlement have often occurred in regional housing cooperatives.
To address these issues, the Seoul city government will conduct a joint investigation by the city, districts, and experts along with district-led investigations. Public-sector experts—including attorneys, accountants, urban and dwellings-sector experts (MPs)—will participate to comprehensively examine legal and accounting issues and overall project feasibility.
In particular, the Seoul city government said it strengthened the expertise of the investigation this year by improving the fact-finding manual, subdividing inspection items such as contracts, accounting, and information disclosure, and clearly defining the roles of experts by field.
The Seoul city government also plans to conduct preemptive inspections focusing on cooperatives with concentrated complaints and those with repeated violations, after analyzing in advance 776 damage cases received by the "victim counseling support center" and issues flagged in the 2025 fact-finding investigation. The plan is to focus on practical risk factors such as corruption by cooperatives and their agents, suspected misappropriation of funds, false or exaggerated advertising, and nondisclosure of information.
If the same violation is detected two or more times as a result of the inspection, fines will be imposed or a complaint will be filed immediately without prior notice. The city also plans to take strong administrative measures against cooperatives that obstruct the fact-finding investigation or refuse to submit materials.
In last year's fact-finding investigation, a total of 615 violations were detected. The Seoul city government imposed administrative measures including 149 cases of complaints and requests for investigation, 46 fines, 76 corrective orders, and 344 administrative guidances.
Choi Jin-seok, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Housing Bureau, said, "We will block illegal and poor operations at regional housing cooperatives in advance through a more improved fact-finding manual this year and year-round inspections," adding, "We will continue rigorous oversight and institutional improvements with the prevention of harm to cooperative members as the top priority."