"‘Baekhyeon-dong Development Favoritism Allegation’ Prosecution Reviews Necessity of Summoning Lee Jae-myung for Investigation"

Prosecutors: "Speeding up investigation of final person in charge... Will request warrants if necessary"

The prosecution, which is investigating allegations of preferential treatment and corruption in the Baekhyeon-dong development project, is considering the necessity of summoning Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, for questioning.

Minister of Justice Cho Kuk's fifth cousin, a key figure in the 'private equity fund suspicion,' has had an arrest warrant requested by the prosecution, and there are expectations that Professor Jung Kyung-shim, the minister's wife, will soon be summoned. The photo was taken on the 16th at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

A Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office official said on the 27th, "Based on the investigation results of Jeong Jin-sang, former Chief of Political Coordination at the Democratic Party leader's office, we are also reviewing the need to summon Lee, who was the decision-maker at the time."

He added, "We believe we have somewhat approached the truth of the preferential treatment and corruption in permits and approvals through analysis of the objective data confirmed so far, which is why we investigated former Chief Jeong," and stated, "We are accelerating the investigation into the person ultimately responsible."

He further said, "We will conduct necessary investigations and, if needed, request warrants," and added, "Other procedures will follow the legally prescribed processes."

Earlier, the prosecution privately summoned and questioned former Chief Jeong regarding suspicions of 'resolving permits and approvals' related to the Baekhyeon-dong development. Former Chief Jeong is suspected of accepting requests from lobbyist Kim In-seop, former CEO of Korea Housing Technology, in 2015 to resolve permits and approvals related to the Baekhyeon-dong development project and being involved in excluding Seongnam Urban Development Corporation from the project.

The Baekhyeon-dong development project involved building apartments on the former Korea Food Research Institute site in Baekhyeon-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam City. The prosecution believes that various permit and approval conditions for the Baekhyeon-dong development were altered to favor private developers such as Asia Developer Chairman Jeong Ba-ul and other private businessmen.

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