Prosecutors to Launch Forced Investigation on 'Yutu' Yuhan-gi?

Controversy Over Private Operator Recruitment and Seongnam Urban Development Corporation President's Resignation Process... Currently Promoting Daejangdong Model in Pocheon

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The special investigation team for the Daejang-dong development suspicion case at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (led by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Tae-hoon) is launching a high-intensity investigation into Yoo Han-gi, former Head of the Development Business Division at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (Seongnam UDC).

According to the legal community on the 25th, Yoo, like Yoo Dong-gyu, former Head of the Planning Division who shares the same surname, wielded tremendous power at Seongnam UDC to the extent that they were collectively called "Yoo Two." Yoo participated in the evaluation of private business operators' bids for the Daejang-dong development. The evaluation was conducted through absolute and relative assessments, with Yoo serving as the chairman of the evaluation committee for the absolute evaluation and as the chairman of the subcommittee for the relative evaluation.

The absolute evaluation committee consisted of three members: Yoo, Kim Moon-gi, Head of Development Business Division 1, and Jung Min-yong, Head of the Investment Business Team (a lawyer). Yoo and Kim were close aides to Yoo Dong-gyu, then acting president of Seongnam UDC, while Lawyer Jung was a junior alumnus of Sogang University to Nam Wook, the owner of Cheonhwa-dongin No. 4, an affiliate of Hwacheon Daeyu.

So far, the investigation team has proceeded on the premise that Yoo, under the direction of Yoo Dong-gyu, gave favorable scores to Hwacheon Daeyu. To verify this, Yoo was recently summoned as a witness and questioned once.

Evidence of illegal involvement was also found in the resignation process of Hwang Moo-sung, former president of Seongnam UDC. In February 2015, a recorded file was released in which Yoo pressured Hwang to submit his resignation by mentioning Yoo Dong-gyu and others, saying, "If you don't submit your resignation today, you will be destroyed." Hwang, who was questioned the day before, also answered "yes" when asked by reporters if he was pressured to resign. Hwang was the inaugural president of the corporation in January 2014 but resigned in March the following year without completing his three-year term. Subsequently, Yoo Dong-gyu served as acting president and led the Daejang-dong project, designing the project structure without the excess profit recovery clause.

The investigation team is believed to have confirmed through Hwang the circumstances under which the excess profit recovery clause was omitted, who pressured him to resign, and whether he was directly pressured by Lee Jae-myung, then mayor of Seongnam. Previously, Hwang mentioned that the then mayor of Seongnam likely influenced the hiring of Yoo Dong-gyu. Even upon stepping down, Hwang reportedly met Lee and conveyed the message to "select people carefully."

The possibility of a compulsory investigation into Yoo Han-gi is also being raised. After being appointed chairman of the Pocheon Facilities Corporation, the predecessor of Pocheon Urban Development Corporation, in January 2019, Yoo has been promoting development projects in Pocheon modeled after the Daejang-dong development. The People Power Party has argued for a compulsory investigation, stating, "If Yoo Dong-gyu made major decisions, then Yoo Han-gi, an urban development expert, was responsible for the concrete execution."

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