1,122 minors own houses in Seoul's three richest districts: data
By Park Si-soo
In yet another grim reminder of widening wealth disparity, there are 1,122 minors who own houses in Seoul's three richest districts ― Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa.
They were among 23,991 minors who had at least one house registered under their names across the country as of the end of 2016 ― 108 owned five or more houses and 30 percent of them were living in the three affluent districts.
Rep. Shim Gi-choon of the ruling Democratic Party revealed this on Thursday with information he had produced based on property, demographic documents and house register data from multiple government agencies.
“I believe it's all but impossible for minors to own multiple houses in the three districts without their parents' help,” Rep. Shim said. “We need to check if there was anything illegal, such as tax evasions perpetrated in the process of them taking over such pricey properties.”
Nearly 45 percent of South Korea's households, or 8.62 million, have no house registered under their names, according to the lawmaker.