Cheon Ha-ram: 4 family members obtained 4 displaced-resident vouchers

Confirmation team denies allegations, says nominee's home was in Cheonwang-dong

Defense Minister nominee Kang Shin-chul answers questions from reporters as he arrives at a confirmation hearing preparation office set up at the National Defense Convention Center in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the morning of Sept. 3.
Defense Minister nominee Kang Shin-chul answers questions from reporters as he arrives at a confirmation hearing preparation office set up at the National Defense Convention Center in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the morning of Sept. 3.

Allegations of fraudulent address registration and improper apartment subscription surrounding Defense Minister nominee Kang Shin-chul are flaring up again just ahead of his confirmation hearing. What began as claims that a frontline unit commander obtained the status of a displaced resident on paper to secure an apartment in Seoul's Gangnam area has grown into a wider controversy over his qualifications to lead the Ministry of National Defense.

Cheon Ha-ram, the Reform Party's acting leader, held a press conference at the National Assembly's press hall Thursday and said Kang's explanation of the improper subscription allegations was a "false explanation."

"I want to reveal that not only the nominee himself but his father, older brother and aunt all systematically and deliberately carried out an operation to secure displaced-resident vouchers," Cheon said. "Four family members received four such vouchers, and Kang, his father and his brother each received a special pre-sale apartment in Seoul as displaced residents."

According to Cheon, Kang was serving in a frontline unit of the Army's 7th Division in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, in March 2008. While registered as living in a military apartment there, he filed a change-of-address report listing an empty house in Cheonwang-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul, as his residence. Seven months later, in October 2008, Guro-gu purchased the Cheonwang-dong house through a compensation program. Kang then received a pre-sale apartment at Seocho Nature Hill in Seoul under a special pre-sale program for displaced residents.

"The apartment's pre-sale price was 520 million won ($389,000), and its current market price is as much as 2.2 billion won," Cheon said. "That is a profit of 1.7 billion won — a return of 323 percent."

"While soldiers were defending the country in front of the frontline fences, the commander's operational map was spread across Seoul property registries," Cheon said. "Such a person is not qualified to stand before the soldiers of the armed forces." He went on to urge Kang to resign voluntarily and immediately return the improperly obtained apartment.

In response, Kang's confirmation hearing preparation team issued a statement Thursday rebuffing the allegations.

The team said the claim that Kang's residence at the time was Yangji Village in Bundang, Seongnam, was untrue. It also said allegations of fraudulent address registration involving his brother and aunt were groundless.

"While the nominee was deployed to Iraq, his spouse lived at her parents' home while caring for their children, and he never lived in Bundang," the team said. It then said, "His brother was born in Cheonwang-dong and has lived there his entire life, and his aunt has also continued to reside there. The family and relatives were all homeowners in the area and were the actual, legitimate recipients of the displaced-resident compensation."

However, the team acknowledged some fault, saying, "It was the nominee's oversight that he was careless in managing his address registration while moving between duty stations."


rimsclub@heraldcorp.com