Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport: "Is it true that data was deleted to hide the review of changing the endpoint of Yangpyeong Expressway? Not true"

On the 29th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) denied allegations that it deliberately omitted four pages from the Seoul?Yangpyeong Expressway feasibility study service plan, stating, "The claim that data was deleted to hide circumstances regarding the review of the terminus change is not true."

In a statement released that day, MOLIT explained that the omission of pages from the service plan was due to confusion during the submission of materials to the National Assembly in May.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The service plan at the center of the controversy is a 38-page document submitted to MOLIT in April last year by Kyungdong Engineering, the firm conducting the feasibility study for the Seoul?Yangpyeong Expressway, outlining the direction for the upcoming service. After allegations of preferential treatment arose concerning the change of the expressway’s terminus, MOLIT disclosed the document along with related materials in July to address the suspicions.

The disclosed service plan posted on the website at that time omitted the four pages titled "Review of Preliminary Feasibility Study Contents," which included considerations of changing the terminus location. Consequently, opposition parties and civil society raised suspicions that MOLIT deleted these pages to conceal the fact that the terminus change had been contemplated even before the feasibility study began in May last year. This issue was also reiterated during a recent National Assembly audit.

MOLIT issued another explanation. In its statement, MOLIT said, "In response to the National Assembly’s request in May this year, the design firm’s initially submitted service plan included a section titled 'Review of Preliminary Feasibility Study Contents' that mistakenly contained 'Selection of alternative routes through consultation with related agencies considering Ulsan City development plans,' which is unrelated to this project, as well as unconfirmed access facility plans. Therefore, the Road Bureau staff excluded these four pages when submitting the service plan to the National Assembly."

MOLIT further stated, "Since the declaration to scrap the Seoul?Yangpyeong Expressway in July, the policy has been to submit all materials. However, during the submission process, both the original version containing the four pages and a revised version without them were mixed and submitted."

MOLIT also acknowledged, "Recognizing the controversy caused by submitting two versions of the service plan, the original was published on the website on July 25," and added, "We will thoroughly manage data and service contracts to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future."

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