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'Daejang-dong' Nam Wook's Company Gangneung Warehouse Facility Faces Voluntary Auction

[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that real estate owned by the corporation of lawyer Nam Wook, who was convicted in the Daejang-dong development corruption trial, has been put up for auction. Previously, Seongnam City filed for an injunction to cancel the transfer of ownership, alleging that Nam diverted assets by purchasing the Gangneung warehouse site through his corporation. While the injunction was initially granted, it was canceled two years later after an objection filed by Nam's corporation was accepted.

According to industry sources, a voluntary auction procedure for the warehouse facility of NSJPM Co., Ltd. is currently underway in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. In October of last year, the Gangneung Branch of the Chuncheon District Court accepted an application from a financial institution and decided to initiate a voluntary auction for the warehouse facility. Since then, the court has been accepting dividend demands from creditors until the 15th and has entered the preparation stage for the sale.

The NSJPM Gangneung warehouse facility was newly constructed about four years ago. After purchasing the 11,170㎡ warehouse site for approximately 2 billion won in February 2021, NSJPM built the two-story warehouse facility (total floor area of 3,141㎡) in August of the same year. Currently, the building is leased by LX Pantos, which handles logistics services for LG Electronics066570 products, and is used as the LG Electronics Gangneung Logistics Center. NSJPM had listed the warehouse facility for sale for about 7.5 billion won around March of last year.

Multiple mortgage and attachment liens are currently set on this warehouse facility. The financial institution that applied for this voluntary auction established a collateral mortgage (typically 120% of the loan amount) in September 2021 with a maximum debt amount of 6 billion won. It appears that a real estate-backed loan of approximately 5 billion won was executed at the time. LX Pantos, which leases the building, also established a collateral mortgage of 150 million won in October of the same year. In addition, the Seoul Guro District Tax Office and Gangwon Gangneung City seized the property in August 2023, followed by Seoul Gangnam-gu in April 2024, likely due to tax arrears.

A real estate industry official stated, "The warehouse area is located some distance from downtown Gangneung, where logistics complexes and apartment complexes are situated. The property was listed for sale last March, but no buyer has appeared as of yet.".

Lawyer Nam Wook is the de facto largest shareholder of NSJPM, holding a 79.68% stake in NSJ Holdings (formerly Cheonhwa Dongin No. 4), the parent company of NSJPM, as of the end of 2024. Nam served as the CEO of NSJPM from January 2021, when the company was founded, until July of the following year. NSJPM is a real estate specialist company whose main business is real estate development, supply, sales, and leasing.

Previously, the Seongnam Development Corporation applied for an injunction in June 2022 to cancel the transfer of ownership of the NSJPM Gangneung warehouse facility. The argument was that lawyer Nam had engaged in fraudulent conveyances by shifting the status of the real estate buyer to NSJPM, and as a creditor, the corporation had the right to exercise Nam's rights against third parties on his behalf (subrogation right). Although the court initially granted the injunction, it was canceled in August 2024 after NSJPM's objection was accepted.

The Seongnam Development Corporation has received a decision to freeze 557.9 billion won in assets belonging to private developers involved in the Daejang-dong development corruption scandal. In December of last year, 14 applications for provisional attachment and injunctions (totaling 557.9 billion won) filed against Kim Man-bae, Nam Wook, Jeong Young-hak, and Yoo Dong-gyu were granted. Regarding lawyer Nam Wook's assets, decisions were made to grant two injunctions prohibiting the disposal of real estate in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, and Jeju, along with four provisional attachment applications totaling 82 billion won, including 30 billion won in bank deposits at NSJ Holdings. However, many of the accounts that were actually frozen already had most of their balances withdrawn.

Meanwhile, although the prosecution sought a forfeiture of 101 billion won, claiming that lawyer Nam Wook had profited unfairly from the Daejang-dong development, the court did not accept this last October and sentenced him to four years in prison. As the prosecution gave up its right to appeal, the forfeiture amount for Nam was effectively finalized at zero won. Currently, Nam's side is demanding the release of assets frozen by the prosecution, which were intended to be forfeited once criminal proceeds were officially determined.