▲The fields in Boeun, Chungbuk acquired by Almighty God Sect Group

The source of funds for the cult of Almighty God is unknown, disrupting the real estate market... The state should amend laws and regulations to actively and effectively respond.

The centralized acquisition of farmland in Boeun, Chungbuk by the cult "Almighty God" group has become a problem in Boeun County. Compared with the current market, the purchase of agricultural land at a high price disrupts the real estate market. Therefore, foreigners, including Chinese, are increasingly calling for restrictions on the purchase of land.

According to reports on the 17th, Eun County revealed that from 2018 to the end of July this year, foreigners purchased a total of 186 plots of land, including 49 plots, 103 plots, and 34 other plots, with a total area of 646,000 square meters.

Boeun-eup, Sanbei, and Samsung-myeon accounted for 92% of all foreign land acquisition areas.

These include 89 plots of land outside the mountain with 256,000 square meters, 44 plots of 140,000 square meters in Boeun-eup, and 34 plots of 96,000 square meters in Sansheng-myeon. The acquisition price reached 14.7 billion won.

Most of them are done by the "Almighty God" group.

According to statistics, among foreign landowners, the number of foreign landowners is 446,000 square meters, Americans 125,000 square meters, Europeans 32,000 square meters, Japanese 6,000 square meters, and other countries 17,000 square meters.

Comparing the area of land acquired by all foreigners, Chinese accounted for 72% of land ownership.

From the perspective of the holders, foreign legal persons are 257,000 square meters, overseas Chinese are 163,000 square meters, pure foreigners are 132,000 square meters, and cooperative legal persons are 95,000 square meters. Among foreign legal persons, Chinese legal persons have the highest proportion.

▲Agricultural tools of the Almighty God Group

Boeun County believes that due to the aging of the rural area (35.7% of the elderly population), the agricultural population is decreasing, and the acquisition of foreign land will further accelerate. Therefore, in May this year, it proposed to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and relevant departments to enact laws restricting foreign land ownership.

Foreigners’ investigations of fund-raising plans and sources are not transparent compared to natives. Therefore, illegal phenomena such as foreign exchange transactions become public and share their own investment methods, which disrupts my country’s real estate market and becomes a national problem.

A related person in the county stated: "Although the current law does not restrict foreigners from purchasing land, I would like to recommend the enactment of relevant laws again and request the higher authorities to designate land transaction permit areas as necessary." United, conduct real-time monitoring of the status of foreigners’ land transactions, and pay close attention to foreigners’ purchase of land."