NTS reviewed publicly available materials on deal, found no taxable event
NTS building triple-layer security system to counter AI hacking
National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Gwang-hyeon said Tuesday he had been briefed that President Lee Jae Myung's sale of an apartment in Bundang was not subject to taxation.
Lim made the remarks at a national audit of the NTS by the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee at Government Complex Sejong, in response to People Power Party lawmaker Bae Jun-young, who said the transaction — involving a large private debt between individuals — was one the NTS had pledged to verify and raised issues under tax law.
"Regarding the president's case, the relevant division within our agency reviewed the publicly available materials to determine whether taxation applied, and I was briefed that it does not," Lim said.
Earlier, President Lee and his wife Kim Hye-kyung sold an apartment they jointly owned in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province for 2.9 billion won ($2.17 million) in July, setting up a mortgage of 1.78 billion won with the buyers listed as debtors. Opposition lawmakers criticized the arrangement, arguing that a president who had tightened lending regulations had used a private financing scheme to circumvent those same rules and profit handsomely.
When Bae cited online posts claiming that people who had structured home purchases similarly to the president's deal had been investigated by the Seoul Metropolitan Tax Investigation Bureau 3, Lim said the bureau's involvement likely reflected the buyers' young age or some other specific circumstance, adding that a proper judgment would require a review of the exact facts.
Lim also addressed concerns raised by Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Do-geol that the NTS had become a target of AI hacking, saying the agency handled sensitive personal information belonging to many citizens and was taking thorough precautions.
"We have established an AI hacking response TF," Lim said, adding that the agency was working with specialist bodies including the National Intelligence Service and the Ministry of Interior and Safety to build a triple-layer security management system and would do its utmost to put comprehensive security measures in place.
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