The second comprehensive special counsel probing alleged preferential changes to the Seoul–Yangpyeong Expressway's terminus will, on the 23rd, summon for the first time former Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong for questioning.
According to the legal community on the 18th, the second special counsel team led by Special Counsel Kwon Chang-young decided to summon the former Minister at 10 a.m. on the 23rd as a suspect on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights.
It comes eight days after the second special counsel launched a compulsory investigation with searches and seizures of his home and other locations on the 15th, and this will be the first time the former Minister appears before the second special counsel for questioning.
Appointed the first Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, the former Minister faces allegations that in July 2023, during the process of scrapping the Yangpyeong Expressway project, proper procedures were not followed.
The allegation over the Yangpyeong Expressway route change centers on claims that in 2023 the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), while promoting the Seoul–Yangpyeong Expressway project, changed the terminus route to an area near land owned by first lady Kim Keon-hee's family, conferring preferential treatment.
The original terminus route in Yangseo-myeon passed the preliminary feasibility study in 2021, but controversy arose as a change of the terminus route to Gangsang-myeon, where the Kim family owns land, was pursued in May 2023.
The former Minister declared the project scrapped in July that year, and the special counsel believes the former Minister ordered the suspension without going through procedures required under the National Finance Act and the Road Act, including deliberations.
The second special counsel had previously sent two summons notices to the former Minister, according to reports. During the subsequent search and seizure, investigators obtained a mobile phone and directly served a notice to appear at the scene.
The former Minister has pushed back against the second special counsel's compulsory investigation and summons, saying it is "not an investigation to uncover the truth but an abuse of power and an erosion of the rule of law."
Meanwhile, the Kim Keon-hee special counsel team led by Special Counsel Min Joong-ki concluded its investigation period without establishing charges against the former Minister, who had been identified as the so-called higher-up behind the terminus change.