LH officials summoned by police in widening land speculation investigation

A Korea Land and Housing Corp employee is escorted to inside the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency in Suwon's Jangan District in Gyeonggi Province, Friday, to receive an interrogation on suspected charges of illegalities in land purchases. Yonhap

Employees of a state housing development corporation at the center of an unfolding land speculation scandal were summoned by police on Friday to be grilled about their suspected illegalities in land purchases.

A special investigation team of the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency called in employees of the state-run Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH), who are accused of using insider information to buy farmland in districts southwest of Seoul ahead of their designation by the government as candidate sites for new town development.

The summons came 17 days after the civic groups People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and Lawyers for a Democratic Society accused 14 LH employees of purchasing land in Gwangmyeong and Siheung, Gyeonggi Province cities just southwest of Seoul, based on insider information. On March 11, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announced that a government inquiry uncovered seven more LH employees suspected of being involved in the illicit land purchases.

The number of LH employees summoned Friday by the Gyeonggi police agency in Suwon, south of Seoul, is yet to be known, and the questioning began at around 10 a.m., according to informed officials.

The police investigation team has conducted two rounds of raids on the LH headquarters in Jinju, southeastern South Korea, in connection with the land speculation scandal.

The alleged land speculation by public sector employees has rocked the nation as it emerged at a time when public discontent over soaring home prices is running high. (Yonhap)