Prosecutors "Considering the Need to Summon Lee Jae-myung Regarding the 'Baekhyeon-dong Allegations'"

The prosecution investigating the allegations of preferential treatment in the Baekhyeon-dong development appears to have solidified its plan to summon Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, for questioning.

A Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office official said on the 3rd, "After reviewing the investigation process so far, it seems necessary to investigate Lee, who was the mayor of Seongnam at the time, in connection with the Baekhyeon-dong development corruption. We plan to review the related procedures soon."

Lee Jae-myung, Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea Photo by Yonhap News

He added, "The summons will be scheduled at an appropriate time according to the investigation situation, and we will probably contact (Lee's side). There is no specific date or method for the summons yet. We plan to coordinate with Lee later."

Regarding the possibility of conducting the investigation together with the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, which is investigating Lee's alleged involvement in the Ssangbangwool Group's remittance to North Korea, he responded, "We are investigating to clarify the facts of the case regardless of the situation being handled by other offices."

The prosecution has been investigating Lee as the final decision-maker who enabled changes to various permits and approvals by Seongnam City to favor private developers during the Baekhyeon-dong development. If Lee complies with the prosecution's summons this time, it will be his fourth appearance.

The Baekhyeon-dong development is a project that built and sold apartments on the site of the former Korea Food Research Institute in Baekhyeon-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam City. During this process, Seongnam City changed the land use and reduced the private rental apartment supply condition from 100% to 10%, excluding the participation of public construction companies. As of the end of last year, Seongnam R&D PFV, the project operator, earned 318.5 billion won in sales profits, and its largest shareholder, Asia Developer, earned approximately 70 billion won in dividends.

The prosecution believes that Kim In-seop, a former CEO of Korea Housing Technology and a 'government relations lobbyist' who was requested by Jung Ba-ul, chairman of Asia Developer, obtained exceptional permits and approvals based on his close relationship with Lee, who was then the mayor of Seongnam, and Jung Jin-sang, former policy director of Seongnam City and former political coordination director of the Democratic Party leader's office.

The prosecution summoned former director Jung on the 25th of last month as a suspect to verify the facts related to the case.

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