[Exclusive] Mortgage securing up to 1.77 billion won on President Lee’s Bundang apartment fully discharged

[Financial News] A mortgage with a maximum secured amount of 1.77 billion won on the apartment in Bundang District, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, sold by President Lee Jae Myung and his wife, was fully discharged on the 3rd. The mortgage, which the registry showed as released on the 30th of last month, was officially reflected in the records that day, effectively completing the process for settling the remaining balance by the end of October, as the Blue House had announced.
A review that day of the apartment’s full registry certificate at the Supreme Court’s Internet Registry Office showed that the registration establishing a mortgage with a maximum secured amount of 1.77 billion won, naming the presidential couple as mortgagees, had been canceled. The existing mortgage registration was marked as canceled in the registry, with the reason listed as “release.”
The filing date for the mortgage discharge and the release date recorded in the registry were both the 30th of last month. Through the previous day, the 2nd, a notice said that a case to discharge the mortgage on the property had been filed and was being processed, but on the 3rd the actual discharge was reflected in the registry as well.
The mortgage discharged this time was established when the presidential couple sold the Yangji Village apartment in Sunae-dong, Bundang District, for 2.9 billion won last July. Because the buyer could not pay the full purchase price immediately, ownership was transferred first, while the unpaid balance was secured by using the home as collateral.
The Blue House explained at the time that the transaction was an agreement between the parties that took the buyer’s financial circumstances into account. The buyer was to pay the remaining balance after selling a home they already owned, and the arrangement was for the presidential couple to retain the mortgage until then.
The discharge has drawn attention because it took place in line with the end-of-October schedule for settling the remaining balance that the Blue House had previously announced. With the security interest, which had remained in place for about three months since ownership was transferred last July, now cleared, the settlement of the purchase price also appears to have been completed.
The Blue House explained at the time that payment of the remaining balance had been deferred to accommodate the buyer’s circumstances, but the opposition raised suspicions that the transaction circumvented lending regulations. Controversy also arose over the propriety of the deal, particularly because payment was deferred without charging interest.
The Blue House countered that there were no personal ties or special relationship with the buyer and that this was an ordinary civil transaction. It had also stated that the gift-tax issue arising from the deferred payment would be handled in accordance with relevant laws and procedures.
With the cancellation of the registration, the issue of the mortgage established during the sale, which had been a point of contention, appears to have been put to rest.
[email protected] Seong Seok-woo, Choi Jong-geun Reporter