<Anchor> The
Ministry of National Defense has also leased buildings built on the road to 'private organizations'. I have been receiving a rent that is far below the market price for 12 years while giving away a part of the building to a research institute led by a retired general.
Following is the exclusive report by reporter Han So-hee.
<Reporter> The
first and second floors of the Ministry of National Defense building in question are being used by a corporation called the Korea Crisis Management Research Institute.
There are only two places in the country where private organizations have moved into military facilities, and this is one of them.
The facility, which the military has licensed for civilian use, has Olympic Boulevard in front and a large apartment complex in the back.
While the crisis management research center occupies about 170 square meters of the first and second floors, the rent paid to the Ministry of National Defense is about 4 million won per year.
It's the same as when I first moved in 12 years ago.
[Nearby real estate official: Isn't it 400 a month? If it's 4 million won a year, I think I'll just give it to you. Here, 10 pyeong is 450 (Monthly).] The
institute was established mainly by former Army Chief of Staff and generals in reserve.
Members of the 'Yongsan Forum', a group of reservists who supported Lee Myung-bak in the 2007 presidential election, are the main pillars.
Afterwards, the research institute entered the building under a private contract with the Ministry of National Defense in 2009 during the Lee Myung-bak administration, and since then, the use permit has been extended through a single bid three times.
The person in charge of the Defense Facilities Headquarters, which gave permission for use in 2018, is currently the director of this research institute.
[Moon Jeong-bok / Democratic Party Member of Parliament: It is also very problematic to attract a private research institute to a military facility, but it is an absurd benefit… If it is against the purpose, the military unit must investigate the truth and order the eviction (.)]
In addition, it was confirmed that another corporation of the head of the research institute entered this building without the approval of the Ministry of National Defense.
The Minister of National Defense ordered an investigation into the controversy over preferential treatment.
[Seouk/Minister of Defense (September 6th National Assembly Preliminary Committee): I have been instructed to check whether there are any illegalities.] The
Crisis Management Research Institute has stated that they are not related to a specific political force and have not received any special favors. I did.
(Video coverage: Oh Young-chun, Seol Min-hwan, Harung, Video editing: Lee So-young)
▶ [Exclusive] Military facilities in the land of
Geumsaragi
… Over 30 Years of Unauthorized Occupation