"Assemblyman Kang Ki-yoon's Land Compensation Overpaid" ... Changwon City Recovers 60 Million Won

Overpayment of 60 Million Won Out of 260 Million Won Compensation for Obstruction Removal

Hong Seunghwa, Auditor of Changwon City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Saeyan] Changwon City in Gyeongnam officially confirmed that the compensation for obstacles in the Gaeumjeong Neighborhood Park project related to an orchard owned by a local member of the National Assembly was inflated.

On the 18th, Changwon City disclosed the results of an on-site inspection of obstacles related to the Gaeumjeong Neighborhood Park compensation as part of a special audit.

The city formed a special audit team of 36 officials to investigate after City Councilor Choi Young-hee raised concerns about the compensation amount for the Gaeumjeong Neighborhood Park project increasing from the initial 55 billion KRW to 93 billion KRW, and alleged excessive compensation for the persimmon orchard land and obstacles owned by a local National Assembly member.

Although Councilor Choi did not specify the name of the National Assembly member, it is known locally that Assemblyman Kang Ki-yoon received about 4.2 billion KRW in land and obstacle compensation from the Gaeumjeong Neighborhood Park project.

According to the on-site investigation conducted from the 17th to 18th of this month, the persimmon orchard had 258 trees, but compensation was made for 500 trees; for maple trees, there were 243 trees, but compensation was made for 400 trees.

For privet trees, there were 286 trees, but only 200 trees were surveyed, resulting in less compensation.

Based on this, the city judged that about 60 million KRW out of the 260 million KRW in obstacle compensation was overpaid.

Additionally, the city announced that it secured testimony from an employee of the appraisal service company stating that Assemblyman Kang was present during the on-site obstacle appraisals in June and September of last year.

Audit Officer Hong Seunghwa said, "We confirmed that all landowners were present during the two on-site inspections in June and September last year."

Assemblyman Kang explained to the media regarding these allegations, "I did not know the results of the appraisal and just accepted the compensation as it was given."

The city explained that the appraisal service company visited the orchard several times last year to conduct on-site obstacle surveys but had difficulty accessing the site because the entrance was locked. Subsequently, the number of obstacles such as persimmon trees was based on the quantities provided by the landowners present on-site, and the survey was completed without counting the exact number of trees.

Changwon City has requested an investigation by the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency into the appraisal company responsible for the inadequate survey and decided to recover the overpaid compensation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.