Yongin City Files 25.7 Billion Won Damages Claim Against Former Mayor Lee and Korea Transport Institute Over Light Rail Project

Demanding 21.46 Billion Won from Former Mayor Lee Jeongmun
and 4.3 Billion Won from the Korea Transport Institute for Damages

The city of Yongin in Gyeonggi Province has filed a claim for damages against former Mayor Lee Jeongmun and the Korea Transport Institute, which was responsible for demand forecasting for the Yongin Light Rail Transit project.

On August 11, it was reported that the city sent official notices demanding that former Mayor Lee pay 21.46 billion won and the Korea Transport Institute pay 4.29 billion won in compensation related to the construction of the light rail transit.

Previously, on July 16, the Supreme Court delivered its ruling on the final appeal in the resident litigation for damages filed by the “Yongin Light Rail Transit Damage Compensation Resident Litigation Group.” The Supreme Court’s Second Division (Presiding Justice Eom Sangpil) dismissed the appeals regarding the former Yongin mayor and the Korea Transport Institute, thus upholding the lower court’s decision. However, the court remanded the case regarding the individual liability of researchers from the Korea Transport Institute for further review, stating that additional examination was necessary. The court also ruled that former mayors Seo Jeongseok and Kim Hakgyu were not liable for damages.

The Seoul High Court had previously ruled that, in relation to the light rail transit project, the current mayor of Yongin should file a lawsuit to hold former Mayor Lee, the Korea Transport Institute, and the responsible researchers liable, ordering them to pay a total of approximately 21.46 billion won to the city of Yongin.

The court at the time stated, “Former Mayor Lee Jeongmun is found to have committed gross negligence by signing a project implementation agreement in 2004 that was unilaterally favorable to the project operator, without conducting even a minimal feasibility review of the Korea Transport Institute’s excessively optimistic demand forecast.”

In its ruling last month, the Supreme Court stated, “In line with the intent of the remand decision, which held that residents of a local government can seek accountability through resident litigation for actions causing significant budget losses to the municipality, most of the appeals were dismissed,” and added, “Most of the resident litigation claims have been upheld as final.”

Following the Supreme Court’s decision, the city, which has now filed for damages, plans to wait for responses from former Mayor Lee and the Korea Transport Institute.

The city also announced that, depending on future developments, if the parties do not pay the damages, it will send additional official notices urging payment or initiate a lawsuit to recover the funds.

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