A section chief at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, identified as a key figure in the alleged route change of the Yangpyeong Expressway, has been arrested.
Nam Se-jin, a warrant-division presiding judge at the Seoul Central District Court, conducted a pre-arrest suspect hearing (substantive warrant review) for Section Chief Kim, who is accused of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, from 10:30 a.m. for about 58 minutes on the 17th, and decided to arrest the suspect at about 8:46 p.m.
Presiding Judge Nam said the reason for issuing the arrest warrant was that Section Chief Kim was likely to flee.
Section Chief Kim is suspected of receiving bribes from related companies in 2022, when the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport commissioned a feasibility study to a contractor regarding the change of the Yangpyeong Expressway's terminus, while serving as a working-level official in the road policy division.
The suspicion over the Yangpyeong Expressway terminus change surfaced in May 2023, after the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, when the expressway's endpoint was changed from Yangseo-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi Province, to Gangsang-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun, where land owned by Kim's family is concentrated.
The special counsel team led by Min Jung-gi, which is investigating allegations involving Kim Keon-hee, detected indications that Section Chief Kim received kickbacks from a contractor and continued its probe. On Jul. in the process of searching Section Chief Kim's residence, the special counsel team also found bundles of cash.
The bribery charge under the Specific Crimes Aggravated Punishment Act applied to Section Chief Kim is invoked for enhanced punishment when the amount received is 30 million won or more.