A first-instance ruling on the civil lawsuit of about 3 billion won that a clan association of landowners filed against attorney Nam Wook, accountant Jeong Young-hak and others, saying they suffered losses during the early land purchase for the Daejang-dong development, will come on the 16th.
This case is separate from the main Daejang-dong criminal trial and examines whether Nam's side must actually keep its early-stage promise to compensate land owners if they suffered losses. Simply put, the question is how far the court will recognize an agreement that "if losses arise later, we will make up for them with money."
The Jeonui Lee clan Jeonseong-gun Sipyeonggang-gong Sajikgong branch (Pyeongsan clan association) filed a lawsuit in 2021 with the Seoul Central District Court seeking 3 billion won in agreed payment from attorney Nam, accountant Jeong, attorney Cho Hyun-seong, and Cheonhwadongin Nos. 4–6. The clan association says total damages exceed 20 billion won, but it is known to have first claimed only part of that amount.
The clan association earlier won in part in a separate suit against C7 and others but has argued it did not receive substantial compensation. After it emerged that attorney Nam and accountant Jeong reaped enormous revenue from the Daejang-dong project, they brought this suit in the form of an agreed-payment claim to hold them directly responsible.
The case traces back to 2009. At the time, C7, a developer pushing private development in Daejang-dong, signed a land sale contract with the clan association, and the clan association argues that a damages agreement was concluded in that process. The clan association has since said that large collateral was placed on the land, restricting the exercise of its property rights.
C7 was the developer that pushed private development in the early Daejang-dong phase. In 2008, former CEO Lee Kang-gil led the company's push for private development in Daejang-dong, and attorney Nam and accountant Jeong joined C7 in 2009 and reportedly handled the so-called "landowner work" of buying land from landowners. Attorney Nam also served as C7's CEO at the time.
But the project changed rapidly after 2010. Then-Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung put forward a public development policy, scuttling private development, and C7 stepped back from the project. Afterward, attorney Nam and accountant Jeong left C7 but continued to be involved in the Daejang-dong project, and later reappeared through Hwacheon Daeyu and Cheonhwadongin Nos. 4 and 5 within a public-private joint development structure in which Seongnam Development Corporation held half.
The clan association has argued that Nam and others led the initial land acquisition work and, because they went on to reap enormous revenue from the Daejang-dong project, they cannot escape responsibility under the agreement. Nam's side, by contrast, is known to have denied liability altogether by emphasizing that the contracting party was C7, not themselves. They also reportedly disputed whether the damages the clan association claims actually occurred and, even if there were damages, whether they were caused by the defendants' actions.
This ruling draws attention because it is intertwined with the main Daejang-dong criminal case. In the first trial over corruption in the Daejang-dong development, attorney Nam and accountant Jeong were sentenced last Oct. to four years and five years in prison, respectively, and have appealed. While the criminal case addresses the breach of duty and preferential structure after the shift to public development, this civil ruling will separately decide how far to hold them to the responsibilities promised to landowners in the earlier land acquisition stage.
If the court sides with the clan association, it will be the first ruling to link responsibility for the early landowner work and the project's collapse to Nam's side. Conversely, if the claim is dismissed, it could signal that it is difficult in civil court to tie losses at the C7 stage to the later Daejang-dong revenue structure.