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Police raid Land Ministry over controversial expressway project

Published: 16 May. 2025, 12:50

This undated file photo shows Democratic Party officials presenting a complaint over a controversial Seoul-Yangpyeong expressway project to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. [YONHAP]

Police on Friday raided the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the office of the Yangpyeong county in Gyeonggi over an allegation that former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong changed the route of a capital area expressway to benefit the family of former first lady Kim Keon Hee.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency sent investigators in the morning to the government offices and a private engineering company involved in the Seoul-Yangpyeong expressway project to secure documents related to the allegation.

Earlier in 2023, the main opposition Democratic Party's Gyeonggi chapter and civic groups filed complaints with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials against Won on abuse of power charges, alleging that he changed the expressway route in Yangpyeong to the vicinity of land that Kim's family speculated on to help them acquire an unfair advantage.

Won as well as Kim have denied the allegation.

The complaints were transferred to the police via the prosecution in July last year.

Yonhap