Gyeonggi Province Designates Hyunduck District of Yellow Sea Free Economic Zone as Land Transaction Approval Area

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun Reporter] The Hyunduck District of the Yellow Sea Free Economic Zone, where organized real estate speculation has been rampant, has been designated as a land transaction approval area.

This is an additional designation made one month and a half after Gyeonggi Province designated land transaction approval areas for forests and fields in 29 cities and counties on June 29 with the goal of blocking speculative real estate practices.

On the 4th, the province convened its Urban Planning Committee and deliberated and approved a plan to designate a 2.32㎢ area covering Gwankwan-ri and Jangsu-ri of Hyunduck-myeon and Shin-yeong-ri of Poseung-eup, Pyeongtaek City as a land transaction approval area from August 15 to August 14, 2022 for a period of two years, it announced on the 10th.

Since April, the Yellow Sea Free Economic Zone Authority detected speculative transactions by corporations allegedly engaged in organized real estate development, who concentrated their purchases of commercial land within the Hyunduck District, recruited investors through false advertising, and then sold the properties at prices three to four times higher than their purchase prices. On the 13th of last month, the Authority requested the Pyeongtaek Police Station to investigate the illegal activities, and on the 16th, requested Gyeonggi Province to designate the area as a land transaction approval zone.

Recognizing the severity of the situation, the province expedited the designation by submitting a written review to the Gyeonggi Province Urban Planning Committee from late July to early August, resulting in the designation of the Hyunduck District as a land transaction approval area.

Through analysis of actual transaction records, the Yellow Sea Free Economic Zone Authority identified that 13 corporations allegedly engaged in organized real estate development concentrated purchases of 15 land parcels within the Hyunduck District as of June, transferred them as stakes to approximately 200 individuals, and misappropriated approximately 3.6 billion won.

On the 10th, the province announced the designation in the Gyeonggi Province Gazette and plans to notify Pyeongtaek City, the competent registry office, the Yellow Sea Free Economic Zone Authority, and related government agencies (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) of the designation.

Once designated as a land transaction approval area, persons who conduct transactions exceeding a certain area without approval or use the land for purposes other than those approved face imprisonment of up to two years or a fine equivalent to 30 percent of the land price based on the individually announced public land price at the time of contract conclusion.

An official from the province stated, "Going forward, we plan to continuously monitor speculative transactions by organized real estate developers and designate additional land transaction approval areas accordingly."

Meanwhile, the Hyunduck District of the Yellow Sea Free Economic Zone had its project executor designation cancelled on August 31, 2018 due to the previous developer's failure to meet conditions for approval of its implementation plan. The project is scheduled to proceed under a joint public-private development method by the end of this year.