Nominee Kang Shin-chul Clueless About Son's 700 Million Won Commercial Building Purchase? Controversy Ahead of Hearing

Kang Shin-chul, nominee for Minister of National Defense, is facing controversy ahead of tomorrow's confirmation hearing as he claims he was not involved in his eldest son's purchase of a commercial building worth hundreds of millions of won.

In a written response submitted to the National Assembly, nominee Kang claimed, "I am unaware of the background and purpose behind my eldest son's purchase of the commercial building."

Born in 1996 and turning 30 this year, Kang's eldest son completed his service as an ROTC officer last year, secured a job at a mid-sized company, and then purchased a commercial building worth approximately 700 million won in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, at the end of June.

The building is scheduled for reconstruction.

Records show that during this process, Kang's son borrowed 215.5 million won interest-free for 10 years from his aunt's husband, and 500 million won at an annual interest rate of 4.6% from his aunt.

Despite his son borrowing over 700 million won in massive funds from maternal relatives, nominee Kang stated, "Neither I nor my spouse know the background and purpose of our eldest son's purchase of the commercial building, and we were not involved in the selection of the building or the financing process."

He added that the only thing verified was that 2.4 million won in principal and interest was transferred via account to the creditors who are relatives last month.

Regarding how his son raised the funds to purchase the building, he added, "Even though he is my son, he is an adult leading an independent economic life, so I do not know the specific details."

It has been reported that in the past, while serving at a frontline unit in Gangwon Province, nominee Kang transferred his residency to Guro-gu, Seoul, and then received an allotment for an apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul, through a special supply program for displaced residents.

As it was revealed that he did not actually reside in the apartment for seven years after the allotment and instead rented it out on a lease basis (jeonse), suspicions regarding a staged address transfer and fraudulent subscription have been raised, centered around the opposition party.

The apartment in question has risen from an initial subscription price in the 500 million won range to a current market value of over 2 billion won.

(Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Jang Yu-jin | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.