282 Suspected Foreign Real Estate Transactions, Notified

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has detected 282 suspected illegal real estate transactions signed by foreigners in Korea and notified authorities such as the Ministry of Justice, the National Tax Service and the Financial Services Commission.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, in collaboration with the Korea Customs Service, surveyed 557 cases of abnormalities detected during foreign land, housing and officetel transactions between June last year and June this year, and found 433 suspected misconduct in 282 cases.

The main types of crimes were exchange, unqualified rental businesses, and expedient gifts, which illegally bring in funds without going through a foreign exchange bank.

By nationality, Chinese accounted for the largest number of foreigners with abnormal transactions at 44.3%, followed by Americans at 14.9%, and Australians at 5.4%, followed by Gyeonggi Province at 29.6%, Seoul at 14.8%, and Chungbuk at 13.6%.