Land Minister scraps Yangpyeong highway project

Land Minister Won Hee-ryong said he was throwing out the project due to groundless rumors by the Democratic Party that the highway project was changed to benefit the first lady Kim Keon-hee's family, which own lands in the area.

Democratic Party legislators in Gangsang-myeon in Yangpyeong county, Gyeonggi, on Thursday where they were inspecting the era, which the Land Ministry is accused of changing the endpoint of a highway project connecting to Seoul to benefit the first lady's family. [YONHAP]

Land Minister Won Hee-ryong said he is scrapping the Yangpyeong highway development project, citing fake news instigated by the Democratic Party (DP).

The highway endpoint was purportedly changed to benefit the first lady and her family.

“Unless first lady Kim [Keon-hee] moves or sells off the real estate where her ancestral graves are located, the DP’s ‘fruit fly’ agitation will never stop,” Won said on Thursday while visiting the People Power Party at the National Assembly. “That is why I am removing the very cause.”

“There is no way we can stop the DP's fake news that is out to demonize the government and Kim no matter how many times we state the facts and explain the routes,” he added.

He blamed the opposition party for escalating the situation to this point.

He said the next government should undertake the project if this highway is necessary and the determined endpoint on the route should be as the DP claims.

“In the process, those who have raised suspicions should be involved from the start instead of badgering hardworking public servants later,” Won said.

He accused the DP of having no interest in the benefits that the highway project would bring to the public.

“The actions that they have taken in the last couple of days clearly show that they are only interested in political attacks,” Won said.

When asked if he had discussed it with President Yoon Suk Yeol, Won took responsibility.

“I have put my political career and my ministerial position on the line,” Won said. “The DP should do the same.”

Land Minister Won Hee-ryong at the National Assembly in Seoul on Thursday announces the scrapping of a highway project connecting Seoul and Yangpyeong county in Gyeonggi citing groundless rumors raised by the Democratic Party. [YONHAP]

DP Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom said if all of the allegations are true it would be the biggest cartel with a vested interest in Korean history, referencing a term frequently used by Yoon.

Kim was one of the DP legislators, who founded a task force that visited the newly changed highway endpoint.

The DP said Wednesday a task force was being formed to investigate the sudden change of plans and whether it was for the benefit of first lady Kim and her family.

“Yoon keeps talking about eradicating cartels when this is the worst cartel of all,” rep. Kim said. “There were plans for a highway [development] to Dumulmeori [Yangpyeong] for a decade,” the DP representative said. “We plan to ask why the route was changed suddenly after the Land Minister and the Yangpyeong county governor were replaced, and the former Yangpyeong governor was assigned to the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee.”

“We plan to get to the bottom of this suspicion, including whether there was any pressure and how this controversy, which is irrational and unprecedented, came about,” said DP Rep. Choi In-ho.

The controversy was sparked when JTBC reported Tuesday that the Land Ministry changed the endpoint of the highway connecting Seoul and Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi.

According to the JTBC report, the endpoint was Yangseo-myeon in Yangpyeong in the original 2017 plan. The same plan was intact during the preliminary feasibility study two years ago.

However, the destination was changed to Gangsang-myeon, which is around 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) south of Yangseo-myeon, in November.

The final destination is just 500 meters (1,640 feet) away from lands owned by the first lady and her family.

It was reported that first lady Kim and her family own 22,663 square meters (5.6 acres) of land in the area.

When the issue was raised at the National Assembly on June 29, Won shrugged it off as the opinion of working-level officials and that no decisions have been made on changing the route.

JTBC on Thursday followed up on the report that ESI&D, a real estate development company owned by Kim’s family, had more real estate just 1 kilometer from the new final destination.

The company owned two plots of land covering 7,800 square meters that it purchased in 2017 and 2019.

While the DP claims the change will cost an additional 100 billion won ($76.7 million), the government countered it would be around 14 billion won, or 0.8 percent of the entire project cost.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]