President Moon Jae-in has ordered all presidential officials to also be examined to address any suspicions surrounding the alleged speculative land purchases in new development sites by public officials.
A key presidential official told reporters on Friday that Moon gave the order to Presidential Chief of Staff You Young-min on a swift self-investigation, adding the probe is already underway.
Under the order, all officials at the top office, including senior and junior secretaries and administrative staffers, as well as their families will be vetted as to whether they had made any land transactions in the regions designated as the third batch of “New Town” project sites.
The move comes amid an ongoing similar joint inspection led by the Prime Minister’s Office with the Land Ministry into every official at the ministry, public agencies handling land development and regional governments.
The joint investigation was prompted by recent allegations that some former and current staffers of the state Korea Land and Housing Corporation(LH) bought land in Gwangmyeong and Siheung before the government included the two Gyeonggi Province cities into the latest development project.
The presidential official said that the top office is also running a task force led by Presidential Chief of Staff You to comprehensively monitor all related matters and assist in the joint probe.
The official said President Moon also instructed Land Minister Byeon Chang-heum, who served as the head of LH when the alleged transactions took place, to recognize the “emergency situation” and exercise special resolve to address the problems.