LX CEO Kim Jung-ryul, left, speaks during a National Assembly audit of government institutions Oct. 15, 2021. Korea Times file

By Lee Kyung-min

Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corp. (LX) came under fire over what small market players have characterized as "monopolization" of the lucrative cadastral survey market, according to officials, Tuesday. A cadaster is a comprehensive record of the real estate in a country, often represented graphically in a cadastral map.

LX CEO Kim Jung-ryul said the state-run organization's business activities are well within the bounds of the law, whereby the function, objective and extent of the entity's businesses are clearly defined. He added that there were "no incidents where LX ate into the private market share." The comment was in response to a question raised by Rep. Jo Myung-hee of the ruling People Power Party during a meeting of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, Monday.

"Of the four ministry-supervised state-run organizations, LX is the only one that is eating into the market share critical to the survival of many small market players," Jo said during the committee.

She said 65 percent of the contracts are claimed by LX, leaving only 35 percent of the work to be shared among the Korean Association of Spatial Information, Surveying & Mapping, representing about 67,000 workers at some 6,000 small- and medium-sized firms.

"About 80 percent of the association member firms have 50 workers or less," she said. "Businesses in Gangwon, North Gyeongsang and the Chungcheong provinces are up in arms, saying they can barely pay workers after paying value-added taxes."

The criticism is backed by the association which claims the LX is sprawling into areas other than land surveying businesses.

Data cited by the association submitted from the Public Procurement Service shows that LX signed 196 contracts with municipal governments from 2017 to 2021, in what the association says was due in large part to its status as a state-run organization. The LX businesses expanded into setting up geospatial information database projects, an area of competition protected for small market players.

"The state-run LX is prohibited from seeking business contracts to be won by small market players through healthy competition," the association said in a statement. "LX should promptly revisit the current business portfolio."

In response, LX said the association is presenting biased information. "We have created over 150 billion won ($114 million) in the cadaster survey market since 2015 for the growth of 559 companies," it said in a statement. "We were designated as a supervisory authority of the country's cadaster projects last year, helping create stable market demand."