Kim Eui-gyeom "Incompetent Company Conducts Top Security Grade Office Construction... CEO Disappeared"
[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] On the 20th, Kim Eui-gyeom, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "It is somewhat hard to accept that a company of that level was entrusted with the Yongsan office construction." Kim stated that he conducted on-site reporting regarding the controversy over the remodeling company of the Presidential Office being a newly established firm and having won the contract through a private contract.
According to the contract status posted on the Public Procurement Service's Nara Market, the Presidential Secretariat signed a private contract on the 7th with a company based in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, for 'office space environment improvement within the building' at a contract amount of 682.08 million KRW.
On the same day, Kim appeared on TBS's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' and said, "From January to June this year, the company's public construction achievements include three projects: a middle school, an agricultural technology center, and a global geopark center," adding, "Even combining three projects such as a study cafe in the teachers' office, wooden decks, and safety mats, the total is 80 million KRW. All are within a 40 km radius of the Pocheon office."
He continued, "Currently, the CEO and employees have completely disappeared," and raised suspicions of preferential treatment, stating, "The construction capability evaluation amount is about 300 million KRW, but the Presidential Office contract is now in the 700 million KRW range. They circumvented the process through a private contract." He explained, "When the Blue House main building was constructed in the late 1980s, a company like Hyundai Construction, capable of preventing wiretapping by the U.S. government, handled the construction," and added, "Even during the Moon Jae-in administration, major projects were mainly entrusted to Hyundai Construction, which is familiar with the Blue House's internal security facilities."
Regarding the Presidential Office's explanation that the contract was made in a hurry during the urgent construction process, he pointed out, "It may be because it was urgent, but how many companies with a high level of interior design sense in Yongsan and downtown Seoul are there?" and "They went all the way to Pocheon. It's a strange matter."
Kim criticized the Presidential Office for making the Public Procurement Service's Nara Market private, saying, "It not only neglects the obligation to report to the owners, the people, but also continuously amplifies suspicions such as 'Is there something they are worried about? Is there something they want to hide?'"
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