The special counsel team investigating Kim Keon-hee is conducting searches and seizures on the offices of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and other locations on the 16th in connection with suspicions over a terminus change for the Yangpyeong Expressway.
In a media notice that day, the special counsel team said, "Today (16th), in connection with the alleged case of changing the terminus section of the Yangpyeong Expressway, we are carrying out searches and seizures on the former and current workplaces and residence of a person surnamed Kim, a Director at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport who had been seconded to the transition committee and handled related tasks."
The special counsel team is examining whether there was pressure from a member of the "Yoon Suk-yeol presidential transition committee" throughout the route change process. The team plans to investigate whether a member who worked on the transition committee at the time ever told officials to review changing the Yangpyeong Expressway terminus.
The suspicion over the Yangpyeong Expressway terminus change is that Kim Keon-hee and her family improperly intervened in the process of changing the Seoul–Yangpyeong Expressway route. In May 2023, the year after the Yoon Suk-yeol administration was launched, the route terminus of the Seoul–Yangpyeong Expressway was suddenly changed from Yangseo-myeon, Yangpyeong County, to Gangsang-myeon, where 28 parcels (22,663㎡) of land owned by Kim's family are located.
The original plan's terminus route in Yangseo-myeon had passed the preliminary feasibility study in 2021, but in May 2023 the Land Ministry abruptly reviewed a terminus route in Gangsang-myeon, where Kim's family land is located, prompting suspicions.