Land Minister Byeon Chang-heum apologized over the land speculation scandal involving employees of the state-run Korea Land and Housing Corporation(LH) before the National Assembly. 

In a statement before the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee on Tuesday, Byeon said as land minister and former head of LH, he feels awful about the latest controversy. 

He then extended his deepest apologies to the public, saying he is well aware that people are deeply disappointed and enraged by the latest incident.   

Byeon said the government is taking the scandal extremely seriously, adding it will investigate the allegations more sternly than ever and penalize those involved with zero tolerance to regain the public’s trust.

He also vowed to swiftly come up with fundamental ways to prevent speculation from happening again.