The special investigation team stated on the morning of the 14th that it is conducting a search and seizure at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and other related agencies.
The special investigation team noted that around 9 a.m. on the same day, it is conducting a search and seizure related to suspicions that Kim Keon-hee and her family improperly intervened in the process of changing the route of the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway, focusing on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport located in Sejong City and associated service companies.
The suspicions regarding preferential treatment for the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway were raised in 2023. The suspicions claim that in May 2023, the endpoint of the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway was suddenly changed from Yangseo-myeon in Yangpyeong-gun to Gangchang-myeon, where 28 plots of land (22,663 square meters) owned by Kim Keon-hee, the wife of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, are located. This has led to suspicions that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the relevant authority, provided preferential treatment to enhance the value of the land owned by Kim Keon-hee's family.
At the time, Minister Won Hee-ryong declared the cancellation of the project following consultations with the ruling People Power Party in July 2023 as suspicions of preferential treatment regarding the change of endpoint grew, which exacerbated the controversy.
On the same day, former Minister Won and Kim Seon-kyo, a People Power Party lawmaker and the former mayor of Yangpyeong-gun, were not included in the special investigation team's search and seizure targets.