Kim Jaeseop Says, "Jeong Wonoh Traded Farmland at Ages 0 and 2... Must Investigate Whether He Is a Speculator"

On the 24th, Assemblyman Kim Jaeseop of the People Power Party said regarding Jeong Wonoh, Mayor of Seongdong District, "According to the Official Gazette and the certified copy of the registry, Mayor Jeong bought 600 pyeong of rice paddies and 600 pyeong of fields when he was 0 and 2 years old, respectively, before he had even learned to walk," adding, "Judging only from the public records, Mayor Jeong is either a farmer with 57 years of experience or the kind of speculator Lee Jaemyung talks about."

Kim Jaeseop, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly press center on the 11th and expressed support for the motion to impeach President Yoon Sukyeol. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

On this day, through his social networking service (SNS) account, Assemblyman Kim said, "President Lee Jaemyung has emphatically declared that 'farmland not used for farming is speculation' and has even mentioned issuing sell-off orders mobilizing a large-scale workforce. Take this opportunity to designate Mayor Jeong as the first subject of a full-scale investigation," expressing this view.

Assemblyman Kim said, "It is impossible that Mayor Jeong, who was an infant at the time, held a hoe, and it is also highly unlikely that he personally tilled the soil during the several decades he spent as an aide and then as a district mayor," adding, "There are exceptions if the land was entrusted to and operated by the Korea Rural Community Corporation or if his direct descendants are farming it, but neither seems to apply to Mayor Jeong."

Assemblyman Kim went on to say, "Through a full-scale investigation, we must determine whether Mayor Jeong actually farmed the land himself or through a trustee, or whether Mayor Jeong is in fact the very 'speculator who buys farmland and only pretends to farm it' that President Lee referred to," adding, "If the allegations that Mayor Jeong violated the Farmland Act turn out to be true, it should not end with a sale of the land; he must be investigated."