Jung Young-hak: "Things Went Well After Kim Man-bae, Jung Jin-sang, Kim Yong, and Yoo Dong-gyu Became 'Sworn Brothers'"

Increase in Floor Area Ratio, Reduction of Rental Housing, etc.

Since June 2014, after Kim Man-bae and close aides of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, formed a 'brotherhood,' testimony has emerged that the Daejang-dong project proceeded as the group desired.

Jung Young-hak, an accountant and one of the private contractors involved in the Daejang-dong project, appeared as a witness on the 8th at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 23 (Presiding Judge Jo Byung-gu) during the trial of Kim Yong, former deputy director of the Democratic Research Institute and a close aide of Lee, on charges including bribery, and made statements to this effect.

Regarding the 'brotherhood' formed among Kim, former deputy director Kim, another close aide of Lee, Jung Jin-sang, former political coordination officer of the representative office, and Yoo Dong-gyu, former head of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, Jung said, "Previously, none of our requests were fulfilled, but after that, things went smoothly."

The details included increasing the floor area ratio to raise the profitability of the Daejang-dong project and reducing the number of rental housing units.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He also testified that Kim tried to deliver 42.8 billion won, which he promised to give to Lee’s side, through private contractor Nam Wook, and that he himself tried to avoid criminal punishment.

The prosecution asked Jung about the true meaning behind his statement to his wife during the last presidential election, recorded in a transcript, where he said about the dealings between Kim and Nam, "That can be both extortion and complicity in bribery, it's complicated. They’ll give it and later put someone in jail."

In response, Jung said, "It means that Kim Man-bae gives his money to Nam Wook, and if Nam delivers that money, Nam can be put in jail. If Kim himself gives the 42.8 billion won, it would be problematic, but if Nam gives it to Yoo Dong-gyu, Kim can get out of trouble."

The court decided to conduct Kim’s witness examination on the 15th of this month.