Third special crackdown to run through October next year

Apartment listings are posted at a licensed real estate agency in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on Monday. [Yonhap]
Apartment listings are posted at a licensed real estate agency in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on Monday. [Yonhap]

Police arrested 3,565 people and referred 2,151 to prosecutors over two rounds of special real estate crime crackdowns conducted since Oct. 17 last year. Of those arrested, 16 facing the most serious charges were placed in detention. Authorities also secured 14.79 billion won ($10.9 million) in pre-indictment confiscation and seizure orders to recover criminal proceeds.

The Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters said Tuesday it would continue the special crackdowns in line with "the government's strong policy commitment to normalize the abnormal state of the real estate market."

By category, farmland speculation accounted for the largest share at 898 cases, or 25 percent of the total. That was followed by disruption of housing supply order at 795 cases (22 percent), illegal brokerage including artificial price inflation at 726 cases (20 percent), title trust violations at 616 cases (17 percent), redevelopment corruption at 353 cases (9 percent), and fraudulent real estate schemes at 169 cases (4 percent).

President Lee Jae Myung posts on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday, sharing data on the first and second rounds of the police's special real estate crime crackdowns and warning, "If there are any violations, I hope you will correct them now." [Captured from President Lee's X account @Jaemyung_Lee]
President Lee Jae Myung posts on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday, sharing data on the first and second rounds of the police's special real estate crime crackdowns and warning, "If there are any violations, I hope you will correct them now." [Captured from President Lee's X account @Jaemyung_Lee]

President Lee Jae Myung posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday, sharing data on the crackdowns and describing them as "the results of a year of the National Investigation Headquarters policing real estate speculation since my inauguration." Lee added that "a third crackdown will begin soon" and warned, "If there are any violations, I hope you will correct them now."

Lee had also posted on X on Jan. 31, writing under the headline "Do you think normalizing the abnormal and curbing real estate speculation will fail?" He stressed that "normalizing real estate is far easier and more important than the 5,000-square-meter valley restoration project."

The third special crackdown, running through Oct. 31 next year, will expand enforcement to 10 categories: price collusion, artificial inflation of reported transaction prices, illegal brokerage, disruption of housing supply order, speculation using insider information, reconstruction and redevelopment corruption, fraudulent real estate schemes, farmland speculation, title trust violations and unregistered resales, and jeonse fraud.

Since last November, police have participated in a pan-government real estate illegal activity response council chaired by the Office for Government Policy Coordination, working alongside the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the National Tax Service, the Financial Services Commission and other agencies. A police agency official said authorities plan to designate crackdown categories requiring cross-agency coordination as "priority investigation tasks" and apply differentiated rewards to sustain enforcement momentum.

Hong Seok-gi, head of the Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters, said real estate crimes "are serious offenses that threaten the residential stability of the public and undermine market fairness." Hong added that the agency "plans to concentrate investigative resources on price collusion, artificial inflation of reported transaction prices, and fraudulent apartment subscription practices that rob people of the chance to own a home and drive up prices, and will do its utmost to leave criminals with not a single won of profit through the recovery of criminal proceeds."


arin@heraldcorp.com