Won Hee-ryong: "If False Political Attacks Continue, Re-promotion of Yangpyeong Expressway Will Be Impossible"

Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated that if political attacks continue regarding the complete cancellation of the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway project, which has been suspected of favoritism benefiting President Yoon Seok-yeol's in-laws, the project cannot be resumed.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 10th, after concluding a 'Tower Crane Safety Inspection Meeting' at a multi-family housing construction site in Sejong City, Minister Won met with reporters and said, "If we get dragged into the Democratic Party's attacks, the project will not proceed, and similar cases will continue to occur in the future." He added, "We will approach this with extraordinary determination to firmly block political attacks based on false agitation on this occasion."

Regarding whether the project will be resumed, he said, "Even though we proposed ways to avoid political attacks, they were not accepted," and added, "If false political attacks continue as they are now, even if we want to proceed with the project, we cannot. That is our clear position."

Minister Won stated, "I know all the facts and the progress, but it is meaningless to talk about it," and said, "I told the Yangpyeong County Governor to understand that in a situation where the Democratic Party is obsessed only with false political attacks like this, even if we want to resume the project, we cannot."

The Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway project, which the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport declared a complete cancellation of, passed the preliminary feasibility study (PFS) in 2021 and was planned to have its terminus in Yangseo-myeon, Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi Province, starting from Seoul.

Subsequently, in May, the Ministry announced on its website that the project terminus was changed to Gangsang-myeon, and the project length was planned to increase by 2.0 km from the original 27.0 km to 29.0 km. In response, the Democratic Party raised suspicions of favoritism, claiming that the land of First Lady Kim Geon-hee's family is located 500 meters away from the planned terminus.

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