Prosecutors Indict Lee Jae-myung Without Detention Over Baekhyeon-dong Favoritism Allegations

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was indicted on the 12th over allegations of preferential treatment in the development of Baekhyeon-dong. This came just fifteen days after the court dismissed an arrest warrant on the 27th of last month.

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is under suspicion of preferential treatment in the development of Daejang-dong and Wirye New Town, is attending a trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 6th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Yong-sik) indicted Lee without detention on charges of breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Jeong Jin-sang, former Chief of Political Coordination at the Democratic Party leader’s office, was also indicted as an accomplice.

Lee is accused of granting preferential treatment to private contractors during the Baekhyeon-dong development project in Bundang-gu while serving as mayor of Seongnam from April 2014 to March 2018, enabling them to reap profits of 135.6 billion won, and causing at least 20 billion won in damages to the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, which was excluded from the project. The prosecution views this as a 'power-based local corruption case,' where Lee exercised various permits and approvals in response to requests from Kim In-seop, a 'election broker' who supported Lee’s mayoral campaign in Seongnam both materially and morally, as a form of repayment.

The prosecution decided to conduct additional investigations regarding allegations of North Korea remittances involving Ssangbangwool Group and charges of witness tampering before proceeding with those cases.

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