'Farm Land Act Violation' Suspicion: Ki Sung-yong's Father Police Investigation Postponed... Future Schedule Undecided (Comprehensive)

"Investigation Difficult Today... Personal Reasons"
Summoning Ki Sung-yong Considered After Father's Inquiry
Former Happy Cheong Director Additional Investigation... Denies Use of Internal Information

Ki Sung-yueng. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The police planned to summon Ki Young-ok, former director of Gwangju FC and father of FC Seoul player Ki Sung-yong, who is suspected of violating the Farmland Act, on the 28th. However, it was confirmed that Ki postponed the schedule due to personal reasons.

According to the Government Joint Special Investigation Headquarters (Special Investigation Headquarters), Ki was scheduled to appear at the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit of the Gwangju Police Agency as a suspect for questioning that day. Originally, he was supposed to appear at 10 a.m., but Ki informed that he would appear in the afternoon due to personal reasons, resulting in a delay.

Later, Ki contacted the police again, saying "It is difficult to be investigated today," and requested a postponement of the investigation schedule. The police plan to coordinate with Ki and set a summons date later. The exact date and time have not been decided.

The Ki family purchased about 10 parcels of land, including rice paddies and fields, around a park in Geumho-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju, between 2015 and 2016. The police are investigating on suspicion of violating the Farmland Act, considering that Ki Sung-yong was playing in the English Premier League (EPL) at the time and realistically had neither the intention nor the ability to farm the land.

Regarding this, Ki Young-ok explained, "The land was purchased to establish a soccer center named after Ki Sung-yong," and said, "It is unfair to be accused of buying it for speculative purposes."

Meanwhile, additional summons and investigation were conducted for Lee, a former head of the Administrative City Construction Agency (Happy City Agency), the highest-ranking former and current public official under investigation by the Special Investigation Headquarters. The Police Agency’s Major Crime Investigation Division summoned Lee for about eight hours from 10 a.m. the previous day.

This is Lee’s second summons following the one on the 23rd. Prior to the summons, the Special Investigation Headquarters also conducted an additional search and seizure at the Happy City Agency on the 26th.

A Special Investigation Headquarters official said, "We plan to review whether to take legal action by comparing and analyzing the materials secured through the search and seizure and the statements." However, it was reported that Lee denied the allegations of using insider information during this investigation as well.

During his tenure as head of the Happy City Agency, Lee purchased two plots of land totaling 2,455㎡ in Nulwang-ri, Yeongi-myeon, Sejong City, under his wife’s name at the end of April 2017. The official land price was 107,000 KRW per square meter in January 2017 and rose to 154,000 KRW three years later.

After his retirement, at the end of November 2017, Lee purchased 622㎡ of land and a lightweight steel structure on the site in Bongam-ri, Yeonseo-myeon, Sejong City. As the nearby Wachon and Budong-ri areas were scheduled to be designated as candidate sites for the Smart National Industrial Complex, suspicions of insider information-based speculation arose.

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