Acting leader and floor leader of the New Reform Party, Chun Haram, claimed on the 6th, "Circumstances have been revealed that Kang Shin-cheol, candidate for Minister of National Defense, acquired an apartment in Seocho Nature Hill Complex 3, Seocho-gu, Seoul through a fake transfer aimed at special sales for evictees while he was in the military."
Acting President Cheon held a press conference at the National Assembly on this day and said, "This is a case where it is judged that the candidate secured the status of a evictee through deliberate false residence and received a 'special sale to evictees' of an apartment in Seocho-gu, the current market value of which is 2.2 billion won."
According to Acting Director Cheon's analysis of the personnel hearing request, register copy, and subscription notice, candidate Kang received a house in Cheonwang-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul as a gift in July 1997.
In July 2007, Candidate Kang, who was a lieutenant colonel at the time, moved into a military apartment in the area immediately after taking office as deputy commander of the 8th Regiment of the 7th Division located in Hwacheon, Gangwon-do.
Then, eight months later, in March 2008, the candidate, who was working as a battalion commander in the same unit, reported moving in with his spouse into a gifted house in Cheonwang-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul. In October 2008, seven months after moving in, the Seoul Guro-gu Office acquired the qualification as a evictee when it purchased a house in Cheonwang-dong for compensation for the relocation of the Seoul Southern Detention Center.
Afterwards, Candidate Kang moved back into the military apartment in Hwacheon, Gangwon-do, where he had previously reported moving in, in May 2009, and in August 2012, he acquired an apartment in Seocho Nature Hill Complex 3, Seocho-gu, Seoul as a 'special sale to demolished residents'.
In response, Acting Director Cheon pointed out, "It turns out that the 84㎡ for which the candidate received a special sale was 100% specially sold to the evicted residents of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's urban planning project. This means that it was an apartment that could not even be subscribed to if one did not qualify for evicted residents," and pointed out, "The sale price at the time was 520 million won, but the current market price has reached a whopping 2.2 billion won, an increase of about 1.7 billion won, or 323%."
He then criticized, "This is a person who received 2.2 billion won by illegally subscribing to an apartment exclusively for evictees by cosplaying as a evictee. Isn't Candidate Kang the protagonist of 'unearned income that destroys fairness and common sense' that President Lee Jae-myung spoke of? It is cruel for a government that wants to escape the republic of unearned income to appoint a person who made his fortune through unearned income from real estate as the Minister of National Defense."
Candidate Kang immediately explained through the personnel hearing preparation team that the allegations of fraudulent subscription were not true.
Candidate Kang said, “The address in question (a house in Cheonwang-dong) is where the candidate was born and raised, and it is a single-family home that was properly donated in 1997.” He added, “It was a place where the candidate and his family, including his spouse, frequently went and stayed.”
Candidate Kang emphasized, "Due to the nature of a soldier's job, he had to frequently perform rotational work in remote areas for 1 to 2 years, and the residence in remote areas was only a 'temporary duty station' and the house he owned in Seoul was the only 'living base' to which he would return in the future."
He acknowledged, "However, it is true that in the process of moving to a work location, we failed to carefully review some administrative procedures, such as matching the actual residence with the address on the resident registration or providing explanations for legal exceptions under the 'Enforcement Decree of the Land Compensation Act' due to a change in work location, etc."
The Land Compensation Act recognizes people as 'eligible for relocation measures' even if they do not actually reside in the target house due to statutory exceptions such as illness or official duties. This means that Candidate Kang falls under this category but did not provide an explanation to the administrative agency.
Candidate Kang added, “The fact that I was neglecting my personal matters while concentrating on my duties in the military was unreasonable, but there was absolutely no intention of false transfer or any illegality in the application process.”
