Real Estate Allegations Surrounding 'Daejangdong Top Instructor'... Won Hee-ryong Says "Not All True"

Odeungbong Project, Political Donation, and Self-Use Change Allegations
Won, Nominee for Minister of Land, Immediately Issues Clarification Denying Claims

Won Hee-ryong, Chairman of the Planning Committee, is giving an opening remark at the 6th plenary meeting held on the morning of the 18th at the Transition Committee in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Transition Committee Press Corps

Allegations of real estate-related corruption and preferential treatment surrounding Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, continue to emerge. During the last presidential election, Won led the charge in raising suspicions about the Daejang-dong scandal involving Lee Jae-myung, the former Gyeonggi Province governor and Democratic Party candidate, dubbing himself the 'Top Lecturer on Daejang-dong.' Given that he is the nominee for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which oversees real estate policy, the real estate-related allegations against him have drawn particular public attention. However, Won has promptly issued statements denying the allegations as untrue.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 23rd, the allegations against Won mainly concern ▲ preferential treatment in the Jeju Odeungbong Park project ▲ political donations ▲ and self-initiated change of use for his Jeju residence.

The Odeungbong private special development project involves private entities developing apartment complexes on part of the land around Jeju's Odeungbong Park and donating the remaining area as parkland. Allegations have been raised that during the project's promotion, environmental assessments and review procedures were bypassed, recommendations for public institution participation were ignored, and blind bidding rules were violated during the selection of the developer.

The Ministry's spokesperson office explained on the 22nd, "There was no instruction to pass environmental impact assessments or review procedures all at once, and any omitted procedures followed lawful processes." Regarding the accusation of violating 'blind' rules in the developer selection process, they claimed, "We had no involvement whatsoever in the developer evaluation process." They also emphasized compliance with legal guidelines in response to allegations of ignoring recommendations for public institution participation.

Regarding media reports that former and current presidents of Jeju public enterprises donated hundreds of thousands of won in political contributions to Won when he was a People Power Party presidential pre-candidate, Won's side stressed that there was no illegal activity.

In a statement clarifying the reports, the Ministry's spokesperson office said, "Political donations were received from individuals, not corporations or organizations, within the 10 million won limit as stipulated by the Political Funds Act." They added, "All related information, including donor lists and political donation usage details, has been reported to the Election Commission," emphasizing, "Donors who contributed more than 3 million won to Won can be confirmed through the lists published by the Election Commission."

Last week, allegations surfaced that Won, during his tenure as Jeju governor, changed the use of his own house himself, resulting in an increase in its publicly announced price and other benefits. Won acknowledged that the change of use did occur but argued that it was due to requests from local residents and part of the periodic redevelopment of settlement districts conducted by local governments.

The Ministry stated, "The change and designation of the area including Won's house from 'natural green area' to 'natural settlement district' was decided after review by relevant committees, considering the requests of nearby residents and investigations by professional institutions, which found that many townhouses and individual houses had already been built." They further emphasized, "In 2016, Jeju Province pursued a five-year periodic redevelopment of settlement districts under the National Land Planning Act, and this was not a push to designate a settlement district for a specific area."

Another emerging allegation concerns land within the Odeungbong site owned by a foundation operated by the family of Yang Chang-soo, a former Supreme Court justice who is from the same hometown and alma mater as Won. It is claimed that since Won began promoting the project, the official land price of this land has risen disproportionately compared to nearby areas, raising suspicions of preferential treatment. The office of Park Sang-hyuk, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party, pointed this out based on the list of executives of the Hyunoh Academic and Cultural Foundation submitted by the Ministry of Education and land registry records of the foundation's parcels.

While actively explaining the allegations, Won has stated his intention to clear all related suspicions at the confirmation hearing scheduled for the 2nd of next month. The Democratic Party has announced plans for rigorous scrutiny of the real estate-related allegations. Park Sang-hyuk said, "We will thoroughly investigate the relationship between Won and the foundation and whether preferential treatment occurred through the confirmation hearing." There are concerns that the confirmation hearing may become mired in disputes over allegations and explanations, potentially sidelining verification of real estate policies and vision.