'Ceasefire Mode' Ends... Opposition: "Won Hee-ryong's 5 Lies" vs Ruling Party: "Opposition's False Rumors, National Deception"

野 "Yongyeok Company Possibly Rationalizing Land Predetermined for Kim Geon-hee Family"
與 "What Apartments 300 Units in Water Source Protection Area, National Deception Drama"

The ruling and opposition parties, which had temporarily ceased hostilities during the flood disaster period caused by heavy rain, have clashed again over the 'Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway controversy.' The Democratic Party raised five suspicions based on expressway-related data disclosed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and others.

On the 24th, Democratic Party members of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee held a press conference and raised five suspicions based on materials that MOLIT staff allowed opposition party secretariat offices to review and data MOLIT disclosed the previous day.

Opposition: "After reviewing MOLIT data, suspicions increase"

They pointed out, "MOLIT and the consulting firm selectively analyzed the three routes proposed by Yangpyeong County in July 2022," adding, "There was no analysis anywhere of the route with Yangseo-myeon terminus plus Gangha entrance (IC) installation proposed by Yangpyeong County or the third route proposed by Yangpyeong County. The consulting firm effectively only selectively analyzed the Gangsan-myeon terminus route among the three routes proposed by Yangpyeong County." Opposition lawmakers argued, "It raises suspicion that the conclusion to change the terminus near the land owned by the president’s family was already made, and the subsequent process was merely to rationalize this."

Contrary to MOLIT’s explanation, there are also claims that the original plan implies a connection to the Seoul-Chuncheon Expressway. Opposition lawmakers said, "In the materials reported by the consulting firm to MOLIT in July last year, there is a comparison between the original plan (preliminary feasibility study plan) and the alternative (Gangsan-myeon plan), where the original plan states ‘consideration of future route extension plan,’ and the alternative route states ‘no consideration of future route extension plan.’ If the future route in this report refers to a route connecting to the Seoul-Chuncheon Expressway, then MOLIT’s explanation that ‘there was no consideration of connecting the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway and the Seoul-Chuncheon Expressway’ is false."

On the afternoon of the 24th, Choi In-ho, the Democratic Party whip of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, and committee members held a press conference at the National Assembly regarding the declaration to scrap the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Opposition lawmakers also claimed it was confirmed that the L-shaped route map was created after suspicions arose. They said, "The expression that the first plan proposed by Yangpyeong County bends in an L-shape first appeared in a major central daily newspaper article on July 9," adding, "There was suspicion that MOLIT deliberately used the L-shaped route map to create favorable public opinion for the Gangsan-myeon alternative." They reported, "MOLIT officials admitted that the data was hastily prepared after suspicions were raised."

It was also introduced that there is an opinion that the alternative plan would increase costs by 300 billion won compared to the original plan. Opposition lawmakers said, "MOLIT has repeatedly explained in its statements that the alternative plan increases costs by only 14 billion won at the terminus compared to the original plan," and introduced, "According to the interim report submitted by the consulting firm to MOLIT in November 2022, the total project cost by route is about 1.7695 trillion won for the original plan and up to about 2.059 trillion won for the alternative." They added, "The problem is that 55% of the route changes and the budget increases by 289.5 billion won (16.4%), exceeding 15% of the total project cost, which may require a re-evaluation of feasibility, yet there is no trace in the disclosed data that MOLIT raised issues or discussed this alternative."

There was also criticism that materials previously claimed to be ‘nonexistent’ in response to parliamentary data requests have appeared. According to them, MOLIT had stated that there were no action plans reporting responses to requests from related organizations such as Yangpyeong County and Hanam City, no records of route-related consultations with the consulting firm, and no interim reports, but these were disclosed yesterday.

Kim Jeong-jae, the floor leader of the People Power Party on the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, is speaking at a press conference related to current issues of the Land Committee, including the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway, held at the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 24th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Ruling Party: "Junction installation is a negative, not a positive, for land prices"

In response to the opposition’s offensive, the ruling party also held a counter press conference. Kim Jeong-jae, the People Power Party’s secretary of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, said, "The core of the fake news repeatedly spread by the opposition is that external pressure was exerted or there was prior collusion to change the road route to give special favors to a specific person," adding, "However, all involved parties consistently say that they neither exerted nor received any external pressure." Kim said, "Regarding the alternative plan, the design engineer explained, ‘Political aspects are not considered. We only seek the most reasonable route from an expert perspective.’" He continued, "The land of a specific person is located northwest of the junction (JC) where the Yangpyeong Expressway and the Jungbu Inland Expressway connect," and countered, "Unlike an expressway IC, a JC is not a positive factor for land prices. Rather, it will be a negative due to exhaust fumes and noise." He also argued, citing that the land owned by the Kim Geon-hee family is in a management area and included in a water source protection zone, making land-use changes difficult, "It is questionable how such a shameless national scam can be carried out with rumors that 100 or 300 apartments can be developed in such a place."

Regarding MOLIT’s disclosure of related materials the previous day, Kim said, "The government must have been so frustrated that it unprecedentedly disclosed all related materials at the mid-stage of the expressway project feasibility study," adding, "If the public takes a little time to review most of the materials, they will realize how transparently and objectively the project has been conducted."

He explained about MOLIT’s materials, "They detailed the reasons and circumstances why experts proposed the optimal alternative," and emphasized, "It can be seen that reasonable local government requests, such as Yangpyeong County’s request to install an IC where there was none and Gwangju City’s request to connect to the heavily congested Local Road 88, were technically and economically feasible and thus reflected in the alternative route."

The ruling and opposition parties plan to hold a full meeting of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee on the 26th to conduct a special inquiry into the ‘Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway terminus change favoritism suspicion.’ Originally, both parties planned to hold the inquiry on the 17th, but the schedule was postponed to allow full focus on disaster recovery support after multiple deaths occurred due to heavy rain in the Chungcheong and Gyeongsang regions.

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