Lee Jae-myung: "If I had yielded to the People Power Party, it would have been a 50 billion won club, not a 5 billion won club"

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung is responding at the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee's audit on the 20th.

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea and Governor of Gyeonggi Province, lamented that if the Seongnam Daejang-dong development project had been entirely handed over to the private sector as forced by the People Power Party, it would have resulted not in a '50 Billion Club' (people who received 5 billion KRW from Daejang-dong) but rather a '500 Billion Club.'

On the 20th, Lee appeared as an institutional witness at the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee’s audit of Gyeonggi Province held at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office in Suwon, stating, "While examining the Parkview preferential sale and the Bundang Jeongja-dong land use change project, I witnessed political power and construction corruption forces colluding to gain thousands of billions in profits without spending a single penny."

He continued, "Because of that incident, I was arrested while leading an opposition movement," adding, "Eventually, I realized that all of this could be reclaimed through exercising licensing authority, and so I became an enemy of the construction forces."

Lee further claimed, "Regarding this (Daejang-dong) case, if the People Power Party had not interfered, Seongnam City would have acquired all the development profits, which are now said to be around 900 billion KRW," and "However, if I had succumbed to the People Power Party’s demands, the entire 900 billion would have gone to private developers, and instead of a 50 Billion Club, it likely would have become a 500 Billion Club."

Moreover, he said, "Despite this, we did our best and struggled hard to reclaim 70%, and even by current value, we reclaimed 550 to 580 billion KRW out of 900 billion, which is about 60%," and "This is certainly an unprecedented event in the history of Korean politics and administration."

However, Lee apologized, saying, "I deeply apologize for not being able to reclaim 100%, which causes our people to feel regret and alienation," and promised, "I will try harder."

Earlier, on the 18th, Baek Hye-ryun, a Democratic Party lawmaker, drew attention during the audit by directly naming individuals related to the Daejang-dong project, stating, "Most of the people who received money in connection with the Daejang-dong project are directly or indirectly linked to the People Power Party."

The individuals named by Rep. Baek include ▲ Kwak Sang-do, former senior secretary for civil affairs under the Park Geun-hye administration of the People Power Party ▲ Park Young-soo, special prosecutor recommended by the opposition during the Park Geun-hye administration ▲ Choi Jae-kyung, senior secretary for civil affairs under the Park Geun-hye administration ▲ Kwon Soon-il, appointed Supreme Court justice under the Park Geun-hye administration and later deputy head of court administration ▲ Kim Soo-nam, prosecutor general under the Park Geun-hye administration ▲ Kang Chan-woo, chief prosecutor of Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office under the Park Geun-hye administration ▲ Lee Chang-je, deputy minister of justice under the Park Geun-hye administration ▲ Kim Ki-dong, head of the special investigation team for corruption crimes at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office under the Park Geun-hye administration ▲ Lee Kyung-jae, legal advisor and defense counsel for the Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil state corruption scandal.