Special Prosecutor Summons Kim Gunhee's Mother and Brother over 'Yangpyeong Gongheung District Preferential Treatment'... Silent Appearance Together

Questioned on Charges of Causing Losses to the National Treasury...
First Summons for Choi Eunsoon
Investigation Also Targets Alleged Destruction of Evidence and Obstruction of Justice

The special prosecutor team led by Min Junggi summoned Kim Gunhee's mother, Choi Eunsoon, and her older brother, Kim Jinwoo, on November 4 in connection with allegations of preferential treatment in the development of the Gongheung District in Yangpyeong.

From 10:00 a.m. on November 4, the special prosecutor's office began questioning Choi and Kim as suspects on charges of causing losses to the national treasury under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

Arriving at 9:32 a.m. that day, both individuals entered the investigation room without responding to reporters' questions, such as "What is your position on the allegations of preferential treatment regarding the development charges?" and "Did you receive any unjust gains related to the Gongheung District?"

This was Choi's first appearance before the special prosecutor team. Kim, however, appeared for the third time, following previous summonses in July and September.

The special prosecutor suspects that ESI&D, the family company of Kim Gunhee, received preferential treatment during its apartment development project in the Gongheung District of Yangpyeong, including not paying any development charges. Initially, Yangpyeong County imposed development charges of approximately 1.7 billion won, but after two objections and correction requests, the county ultimately decided not to impose the charges at all.

As suspicions of preferential treatment surfaced ahead of the 20th presidential election, Yangpyeong County belatedly imposed development charges of about 187 million won on ESI&D in November 2021. The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, which investigated the case, referred Kim and four other related individuals to the prosecution in May 2023, but decided not to refer Choi and Kim Gunhee, concluding there was no evidence of their involvement.

On October 31, the special prosecutor team also summoned Kim Choongsik, known as Choi's business partner and a close associate of the family, on similar charges, accelerating the investigation into these allegations.

During the investigation on November 4, the special prosecutor team planned to focus on the reasons behind the reversal of the development charge imposition, as well as the circumstances under which items such as a gold turtle were acquired by Kim Gunhee's family. In addition to the preferential treatment allegations, the team also applied charges of obstructing the investigation, destruction of evidence, and concealment of evidence, believing that Choi and Kim interfered with the investigation into Kim Gunhee.

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