Lee orders immediate halt to sales of govt. assets

President Lee Jae Myung on Monday issued an emergency order to halt all procedures for the sale of assets owned by the government amid speculation about illicit gains by undisclosed prospective buyers, Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young said in a statement on Monday.

Lee ordered all Cabinet ministers to completely stop state-owned asset sales and reconsider all such sales currently underway or under review. Lee also instructed his administration that sales should receive Prime Minister Kim Min-seok's approval if necessary.

This reverses his conservative predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol's plan to sell government-owned assets such as land and properties worth at least 16 trillion won ($11.2 billion), or equivalent if sold in lots, over the period from 2022 to 2027 to stimulate a private sector-led economic recovery.

Concerns were raised during a parliamentary inspection of the state-run Korea Asset Management Corp. on Oct. 23 that government-owned assets were being sold at unreasonably low prices during Yoon's tenure, which abruptly ended after his attempt last December to impose martial law.

According to Rep. Kim Seung-won of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, the final sales prices of assets sold in the past three years were roughly half the initial asking price, sparking speculation that the undisclosed winners of the bids might have received unfair advantages.