Ex-President Park Geun-hye’s house to be auctioned off

Impeached former President Park Geun-hye’s house in Naegok-dong, southern Seoul, will be put up for sale in August at a public auction, according to local real estate auction information provider GG Auction on Tuesday.

The state-run Korea Asset Management Corp. will kick off the first round of bidding on Aug. 9. If the property does not sell during the three-day bidding period, Kamco will lower the price by 10 percent and hold a second round of bidding the following week, officials said.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office seized Park’s residence in March and asked Kamco to sell the house at a public auction as she had failed to pay the financial penalties the Supreme Court ordered her to pay in its final ruling on her corruption and power abuse cases. 

Earlier in January, the country’s highest court sentenced Park to 20 years in prison and fined her 18 billion won ($20.39 million). The court also upheld an additional forfeiture of 3.5 billion won.

Currently valued at 3.16 billion won, the two-story house was built in 2008 and has a basement measuring 257 square meters. Park bought it in April 2017 for 2.8 billion won after selling her previous house in Samseong-dong for 6.75 billion won, officials said. 

The house is located in a detached housing complex adjacent to Gyeryongsan, a mountain that is close to Naegok Interchange and Heoneung Interchange, not far from Yangjae-dong in southern Seoul, they added. 

“Given that former President Park Geun-hye is in jail, it will take considerable time for a buyer to obtain the house due to the related eviction process,” said Lee Joo-hyun, a researcher at GG Auction.

By Choi Jae-hee (cjh@heraldcorp.com)