Cheon Ha-ram alleges defense minister nominee obtained Seocho apartment through false residency and improper application

A South Korean opposition lawmaker has accused Defense Minister nominee Kang Shin-chul of using a false residence registration to secure an apartment in Seoul’s Seocho district through a special allocation for displaced residents.

Cheon Ha-ram, acting leader and floor leader of the Reform Party, made the allegation at a news conference on the sixth. He said the nominee appeared to have deliberately registered his residence at a property in Seoul’s Guro district to obtain displaced-resident status and receive a special allocation for an apartment at Seocho Nature Hill 3.

Cheon said the apartment’s current market value is about 2.2 billion won. He based his analysis on Kang’s appointment hearing request, property registry records and a housing application notice.

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Kang Shin-chul, the Defense Minister nominee, appears to have improperly obtained an apartment in Seocho Nature Hill 3 through false residence registration aimed at securing a special allocation for displaced residents.

According to those materials, Kang received a house in Cheonwang-dong, Guro district, as a gift in July 1997. In March 2008, he and his spouse registered their residence there, although Kang was serving at the time as battalion commander of the 8th Regiment, 7th Division, in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province.

Seven months after the registration, Guro District bought the house as compensation for the relocation of Cheonwang-dong residents linked to the transfer of Seoul Southern Detention Center. Cheon said Kang consequently acquired displaced-resident status. The supplied excerpt ends while describing the subsequent process.

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The nominee is judged to have obtained the Seocho district apartment, currently worth 2.2 billion won, through a special allocation for displaced residents after deliberately registering his residence to secure that status.