PROSECUTORS APPREHEND KIM YONG

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The prosecution apprehended the Institute for Democracy deputy director Kim Yong, known to be one of the closest associates of Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung. Kim is charged with receiving millions of won in illegal political funds from those involved in the scandalous Seongnam land development project including former Seongnam Development Corporation executive Yoo Dong-gyu.

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The prosecution issued a detention warrant for Institute for Democracy deputy director Kim Yong as they conducted a search and seizure of his home. Kim is accused of violating the Political Funds Act. The prosecution believes he received political funds from the land developers involved in the Daejang-dong project between last April and July, prior to the candidate registration for the presidential election. According to the prosecution, attorney Nam Wook came up with 800 million won in slush funds and some of the money was delivered to Kim Yong through Jeong Min-yong and Yoo Dong-gyu, both former executives of the Seongnam Development Corporation. Prosecutors suspect the money was exchanged at the company which was run by Yoo and Jeong together. While investigating those involved with the land development scandal, the prosecution reportedly secured testimony that money was handed over to Kim Yong. Kim had been working with Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung since Lee was Seongnam mayor. He is known to be Lee's confidant together with Jeong Jin-sang, the former mayor's political affairs coordination office chief. Kim was a Seongnam City Council member when the Wirye development project was underway and served as the first spokesman when Lee Jae-myung was Gyeonggi-do governor. When the allegations about the Daejang-dong project surfaced last year, Lee Jae-myung had mentioned both Jeong Jin-sang and Kim Yong directly, saying that one should be as close as Jeong and Kim to be called a close friend. Immediately after the detainment, Kim issued a statement saying that "the allegation that he received illegal funds from Daejang-dong project operators is completely false." He also denounced the prosecution's investigation, claiming that "they are making up non-existing crimes and taking the country back to the time of dictatorship." The prosecution simply said that "the need for detainment was recognized and a warrant was issued accordingly." The prosecution will likely decide on how they will process Kim by Friday morning when 48 hours would have passed since his detainment.