Hong Joon-pyo and Yoo Seung-min: "Yoon's Father's House Deal as Unlikely as Winning the Lottery"

"Yoon's Father’s Yeonhui-dong Residence, Kim Man-bae's Sister's Deal Is Not Common Sense"

Yoon Seok-yeol, former Prosecutor General and presidential candidate of the People Power Party. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Regarding the purchase of the house owned by the father of Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate and former Prosecutor General, by the sister of Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu), rival candidates within the party are also casting suspicious glances.

On the 29th, Representative Hong Joon-pyo wrote on Facebook, "Last night (the 28th), an incident as unlikely as winning the lottery occurred. This is going beyond the Lee Jae-myung gate and is now turning into a legal corruption gate," targeting former Prosecutor General Yoon.

Representative Hong said, "It has become clear that the main culprits of the Daejang-dong corruption bribed former top-level prosecutors to use them as a shield to conceal their corruption," and questioned, "Could they not have reached out to current top-level prosecutors through Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo, who has strong connections within the prosecution?"

He continued, "Based on such reasonable inference, I questioned (former Prosecutor General Yoon) during the last debate whether he had ever been briefed on the Daejang-dong development corruption through the Crime Information Department (Crime Information Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office), and an incident as unlikely as winning the lottery occurred." He added, "Everything must be revealed by a special prosecutor. Otherwise, South Korea will face an unprecedentedly corrupt presidential election in history."

Kim Man-bae, the largest shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, which has been suspected of receiving preferential treatment in the Daejang-dong development project in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, is responding to reporters' questions as he enters Yongsan Police Station in Seoul on the morning of the 27th for questioning as a witness.
/Photo by Yonhap News

Former Representative Yoo Seung-min also stated on Facebook that day, "The two-story house in Yeonhui-dong, previously owned by candidate Yoon Seok-yeol's father, was purchased by Kim Man-bae's elder sister, Kim Myung-ok, a major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu. Kim Myung-ok is not only the owner of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 3, a subsidiary of Hwacheon Daeyu, but also a sibling and business partner of Kim Man-bae," he pointed out.

He continued, "Why did Kim Myung-ok specifically purchase the detached house of candidate Yoon Seok-yeol's father, who was then the Seoul Central District Prosecutor General and a leading candidate for the next Prosecutor General, at the end of April 2019? Why did Kim Man-bae's sister buy a house that was put up for a quick sale? Why did such a coincidence happen specifically between Kim Man-bae and candidate Yoon?" he questioned.

He added, "No matter how urgent the sale, selling a house worth over 3.1 billion KRW for 1.9 billion KRW is not reasonable. The suspicion of a down payment contract did not arise without reason," he said.

Earlier, the YouTube channel Open Sympathy TV raised bribery suspicions on the 28th regarding the sale of the Yeonhui-dong house in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, by former Prosecutor General Yoon's father to Kim Myung-ok in April 2019. Open Sympathy TV reported that the house was sold for 1.9 billion KRW, while the estimated market price exceeds 3.3 billion KRW, raising suspicions of bribery and a down payment contract.

The camp of former Prosecutor General Yoon immediately denied the allegations. On the 29th, Yoon's campaign issued a statement saying, "The buyer Kim was an unknown person at the time, with no reason to mention any investment in Cheonhwa Dongin or personal family relations," adding, "We were introduced to Kim through a real estate agency, so naturally, we did not know about his personal background or financial status. We will take strong legal action against the bribery allegations regarding the urgent sale at a price lower than the market value due to the father's health issues."

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