KBS has learned that one of the 15 current and former employees of the state-run Korea Land and Housing Corporation(LH) accused of using confidential information to purchase land at a redevelopment site was in charge of land compensation in 2013. 

Thirteen current and two former employees of LH were found to have bought property in two cities in Gyeonggi Province before the government recently announced a massive development project in the area.

KBS reported on Wednesday that one of the employees was in charge of land compensation in the cities of Gwangmyeong and Siheung back in 2013.

The employee purchased some two-thousand-700 square meters of land priced at over one billion won along with an acquaintance two years ago. At the time, he was overseeing development in an area included in the government's development plan.

Speaking to KBS, the worker claimed that he bought the land after the area was excluded from public development designation and that he had officially declared he would start a flower farming business there.

All 13 current employees implicated in the scandal have been removed from their duties and have taken vacation days.

People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and Minbyun, an association of progressive lawyers, raised allegations of the illicit purchases of some 23-thousand square meters of land priced at ten billion won between April 2018 and June 2020.

The groups said they plan to file a request with the Board of Audit and Inspection(BAI) to look into these allegations, and the government is set to launch an interagency team on Thursday to conduct a probe into such speculative activities.