Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister nominee Park Sang-woo enjoyed privileges of his former post at LH

Park Sang-woo, nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, listens to lawmakers\' questions while watching a monitor during a personnel hearing at the National Assembly\'s Committee on Land, Infrastructure, and Transport on Tuesday. Park Min-gyu

It has been confirmed that Park Sang-woo, a candidate for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, received corporate advertisements from the state-run Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) through a company he established after leaving his post as the head of LH. Earlier, it was also revealed that Park received contracts for research from LH through another company after resigning from the post.

Opposition lawmakers criticized the continued financial gains from LH after his retirement as a "typical interest cartel."

Park's continued financial gain from LH after her retirement drew criticism from opposition lawmakers who called it a "typical interest cartel."

At the confirmation hearing for candidate Park, which was held on December 20, questions were focused on suspicions surrounding the real estate consulting company he established after completing his term as the head of LH from March 2016 to April 2019.

Park Sang-hyuk, the main opposition Minjoo Party lawmaker and a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Committee, released data related to the advertisements submitted by LH. According to the data, LH ran seven advertisements, which cost 21 million won, from September 2020 to December 2022 with the New Southern Economic Research Society where Park was working as the CEO after retiring from his post at LH. LH advertisements posted on webzines in the form of corporate advertisements cost about 3 million won per ad. The New Southern Economic Research Society is a consulting company specializing in investment in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that Park established in April 2020 after leaving LH. LH also participated as a sponsor of the “ASEAN Future City Vision Seminar” co-hosted by the New Southern Economic Research Society and media outlets in December 2020.

Earlier, it was revealed that Park also won LH research contracts through P&T Global, an overseas real estate development consulting company he co-founded after stepping down as the head of LH. The down payment of the contract for the research of "Establishing an Operational Management Plan to Revitalize Industrial Park Development in Vietnam," which was signed last year, was 278 million won.

Minjoo Party lawmakers said that it was “a typical example of enjoying the privileges of former post" for taking financial gains from LH after retiring as the head of the company. When asked about the criticism that LH's advertisement costs and sponsorships are the privileges of former post, Park said "no," but did not provide a specific explanation. Regarding P&T Global's winning of contracts with LH, he refuted that "it is not an interest cartel, both materially and legally," and added that "We won the LH contracts through objective examination after bidding jointly with the Overseas Construction Association."

Some also mentioned the real estate trust company where Park served as an outside director. Sim Sang Jung, a lawmaker of the Justice Party, said 13 cases of jeonse fraud occurred in the real estate managed by Shinyoung Real Estate Trust, where Park was an outside director. The fraud took place by leaving ownership to the trust company, signing a lease contract, and not returning the deposit. Park said, "We have not grasped that there is still a mortgage loan system through trust registration." Lawmaker Shim criticized, "I don't understand that I didn't have such responsibility or sensitivity while moving outside the company." Park said, "I didn't realize that there is still a mortgage loan system through trust registration.” Sim criticized that "I don't understand that he had no such responsibility or sensitivity while serving as the outside director.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.