Exclusive: Merit Recipients Caught in Illicit "Lottery" Housing Subscriptions With 193-to-1 Competition

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National merit recipients enjoy the privilege of receiving special allocations for newly built apartments through recommendations from the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. However, it has been discovered that some merit recipients committed illegal subscription practices, such as false address transfers, aiming for so-called "lottery housing subscriptions" in areas like Mok-dong in Seoul and Gwacheon in Gyeonggi Province.

Reporter Park Chan-beom has this exclusive report.

[Reporter]

An apartment complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, put out its subscription notice back in 2020.

Its first-tier subscription competition rate reached 193 to 1, making it famous as a so-called "lottery subscription."

[Cho Pil-sook / Licensed Real Estate Agent: It was offered at around 550 million to 570 million won. Trading becomes possible starting January 2027, and we expect it to be around 1.8 billion to 1.9 billion won (for the 59㎡ exclusive area).]

Person A, a national merit recipient, received a recommendation from the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and was allocated an apartment under the special supply quota for institutional recommendations.

However, the individual was later caught in a crackdown by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

It was revealed to be a false address transfer subscription fraud, as A had actually resided in North Chungcheong Province while moving only their official residence address to Gyeonggi Province where their child lived in order to apply for the subscription.

In 2020, another merit recipient, Person B, was allocated an apartment in Mok-dong, Seoul, but like Person A, their trick was caught.

Person B had been living in South Gyeongsang Province for 52 years, but right before applying for the special supply subscription, they also moved only their address to Seoul.

Person C, who was allocated an apartment in Songdo, Incheon, turned out to have received 50 million won from a subscription broker, used their own name to secure the special supply, and allowed the broker to sell the pre-sale rights to a third party before being caught.

Over the past five years, there have been 9 cases where merit recipients received special supplies of newly built apartments through Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs recommendations only to be caught for illegal subscriptions.

This year, 3 suspicious cases were also caught and placed under investigation.

Critics point out that the problem lies in the verification capacity of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, which recommends candidates for special supply eligibility.

[Shin Dong-wook / People Power Party Lawmaker: The current structure, where the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs directly selects candidates yet remains negligent in verification and management, must be fundamentally improved.]

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs conveyed an explanation to SBS stating, "Out of about 4,000 winners of the merit recipient special supplies over the past five years, the illegal subscription detection rate is 0.2%, and we are also carrying out preventive activities against illegal subscriptions before receiving applications."

(Camera: Park Jin-ho, Kang Dong-chrol, Lee Seung-hwan | Video Editing: Park Sun-soo | Data Provided by Office of Lawmaker Shin Dong-wook of the People Power Party)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.