Police on the 17th sought a pretrial arrest warrant for North Chungcheong Governor Kim Young-hwan, who is suspected of taking 30 million won from sports community figures. The move comes seven months after investigators launched the probe alongside a search of the North Chungcheong Provincial Office in Aug. 2025.
According to legal sources, the anti-corruption and economic crime investigation unit of the North Chungcheong Provincial Police Agency on this day sought a pretrial arrest warrant for the governor on charges of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and committing misconduct after taking a bribe. Kim is suspected of having the 20 million won interior expense for his mountain hut in Goesan in Aug. 2024 paid on his behalf by Yoon Doo-young, head of the North Chungcheong Volleyball Association.
Police are said to believe that in return for having the mountain hut interior expense paid on his behalf, Kim exercised influence later that year in the process of Association head Yoon's A food company taking part in the province's smart farm project. The A food company at the time joined a project at a vinyl greenhouse in Cheongcheon-myeon, Goesan County, equipped with an advanced bed facility worth tens of millions of won, to grow scallions hydroponically without soil.
Kim is also suspected of having received a total of 11 million won in cash on two occasions from three sports figures—including Volleyball Association head Yoon and North Chungcheong Sports Council President Yoon Hyun-woo—purportedly as travel allowances ahead of overseas trips in April and June last year.
From the early stages of the investigation, Kim has denied all allegations, saying, "I have never received any money or valuables whatsoever, and I also transferred the farm hut interior expense properly to the contractor."
However, police reportedly believe Kim coordinated his account with the interior contractor and other parties involved to obstruct the investigation, and sought the arrest warrant citing concerns over the destruction of evidence.