The special investigation team, led by Min Joon-ki, looking into 16 allegations involving Kim Keon-hee, has reportedly placed travel bans on former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong and Kim's relatives.

The special investigation team led by Min Jong-ki, investigating allegations against Kim Keon-hee, the spouse of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, finishes a search and seizure at the SAMBU Construction headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 3rd afternoon and leaves the office with boxes containing seized items. (Co-reported) /Courtesy of News1

According to the legal community on 4th, the special investigation team for Kim Keon-hee renewed the travel bans on former Minister Won and Kim's mother, Choi Eun-soon (78), as well as Kim's brother, a person surnamed Kim (54), after launching on 2nd. The decision was made by the special investigation team based on the change in investigative agencies.

Former Minister Won and Choi are related to the 'Yangpyeong Highway preferential treatment allegations.' This stems from preferential treatment allegations that emerged during the process of changing the endpoint of the Seoul-Yangpyeong Highway route from the existing Yangseo-myeon in Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi Province, to Gangsan-myeon.

While serving as Minister in May 2023, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced a plan to change the endpoint of the Yangpyeong Highway route which had passed the preliminary feasibility study. Subsequently, it became known that Kim's family owned 29 plots of land in Gangsan-myeon, leading to allegations of preferential treatment.

Former Minister Won has also been implicated in allegations of stock manipulation involving SAMBU Construction. This allegation arose after Lee Jong-ho, the former representative of Black Pearl Invest, which managed Kim's accounts, mentioned 'Sambu Check' in an online group chat among Marine Corps reserves, followed by a rapid increase in the company's stock price. This coincided with former President Yoon Suk-yeol and his spouse's visit to Ukraine to discuss reconstruction projects, which raised stock manipulation suspicions.

The special investigation team is looking into why executives from SAMBU Construction attended the Ukraine Global Reconstruction Forum with former Minister Won on May 22, 2023, during the period of discussions on reconstruction projects by former President Yoon.

On the 3rd, the special investigation team began a forced investigation by conducting a search and seizure at 13 locations, including the headquarters of SAMBU Construction and the residences of current and former directors.

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