LH official found dead amid land speculation scandal

A state housing developer official was found dead Saturday, police said, in what could be an apparent suicide as a scandal of land speculation by public servants has been rocking the nation.

The official of the Korea Land and Housing Corp. was found hanging inside a container in Paju, north of Seoul, at around 10:05 a.m., according to the police. 

No suicide note has been found, the police said, but the official is said to have sent a text message to his family early Saturday, implying he would take his own life.

The container he was found in was set up after he bought the land in February 2019.

Although he was not among the subjects of an ongoing investigation into LH officials over land speculation, some local media raised questions about suspicious land purchases by the official and his colleague.

Police were trying to determine the exact cause of death.

On Friday, another LH official was found dead in an apparent suicide at a garden of an apartment building in Seongnam, just south of Seoul.

The deaths came as a joint investigation team found that LH employees allegedly bought land for speculation in two cities, south of Seoul, before the government announced a major public housing development project.

Land speculation by the employees at the state developer has drawn strong backlash, as many non-homeowners are feeling the pinch of rising housing prices despite a series of government measures.

The government has vowed zero tolerance for public servants found involved in real estate speculation using insider information, including filing criminal charges and having them disgorge more than ill-gotten profits.

On Friday, Land Minister Byeon Chang-heum offered his resignation to President Moon Jae-in as he apologized over the snowballing scandal. Byeon led the LH when some of the suspicious land transactions were made. (Yonhap)