Lee Jae-myung Faces Intense Attacks Over 'Daejang-dong Allegations'... Yoon Says "The Design Itself Is the Problem," Ahn Demands "Full Recovery of Special Benefit Profits"

Lee Jae-myung "Rather, profits were taken away through public recovery"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Presidential candidates have simultaneously launched a focused offensive on Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, regarding the 'Daejang-dong scandal.'

On the 3rd, during the 'Real Estate' topic debate at the joint presidential candidate debate hosted by the three major terrestrial broadcasters, Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, was the first to target Lee's Daejang-dong scandal. Yoon said, "When Lee was serving as the mayor of Seongnam, Kim Man-bae and others invested 350 million KRW in the Daejang-dong development and earned 640 billion KRW in dividends from the project profits," and asked, "Is it true that Lee accurately estimated and designed the costs and profits involved in the Daejang-dong development project during his mayoral term?"

In response, Lee said, "First of all, I apologize again to the public for the fact that, despite the People Power Party's obstruction and interference, we could not achieve 100% public development, which disappointed the people," adding, "This issue was thoroughly scrutinized during two days of the National Assembly audit, recently verified by the media, and is currently under investigation by the prosecution. Instead of wasting time revisiting this, how about discussing the people's livelihood and the economy?"

When Yoon again asked, "Isn't it problematic that no cap was set on the maximum dividend for a few specific individuals who invested 350 million KRW?" Lee retorted, "I confiscated profits. We recovered 580 billion KRW for the public," and added, "Developers said that after probing Lee Jae-myung for 12 years, nothing came out, but with Yoon, just one word and Yoon would be finished."

Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party presidential candidate, also targeted Lee's Daejang-dong scandal. Referring to Lee's 'Development Profit Recovery System' pledge, Ahn pointed out, "Abandoning the recovery of development profits in the Daejang-dong project and funneling nearly 1 trillion KRW in profits to specific private individuals is completely contrary to the purpose of the development profit recovery system."

Lee responded, "Institutionally, public development was not allowed, but by blocking Seongnam's development, we managed to recover some profits," and added, "The People Power Party is now blocking the legislation of the development profit recovery law." He then urged Yoon, "Please tell the People Power Party to support and legislate it."

Furthermore, Ahn said, "A huge amount of special favors and profits belong to the citizens of Seongnam, don't they?" and insisted, "All should be recovered and returned to the citizens of Seongnam." Lee replied, "What I valued most as Seongnam mayor and Gyeonggi Province governor was that 'unearned income from permits and approvals should belong to the citizens,' and I put this into practice," adding, "We tried to recover 100% through public development in Daejang-dong, but the law at the time did not allow it, so we tried to enact an ordinance, but the People Power Party blocked it for four years, forcing us to give up. We recovered up to 70% at the maximum and additionally recovered 110 billion KRW."

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