Supreme Court finalizes 5-year prison sentence for ‘Baekhyeon-dong’ lobbyist

[Anchor]

Kim In-seop, who was identified as a lobbyist in connection with the allegations of preferential treatment in the Baekhyeon-dong development, has been sentenced to five years in prison.

The Supreme Court has acknowledged that there was improper solicitation.

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, is also on trial for breach of trust related to the Baekhyeon-dong project.

Reporter Kim Tae-hoon has the story.

[Report]

The Baekhyeon-dong development project was carried out during Lee Jae-myung's tenure as mayor of Seongnam.

The land use was upgraded four stages, and a 50-meter retaining wall was approved, while the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation withdrew from the project, allowing the company to earn profits in the hundreds of billions of won.

The prosecution believes that the project gained momentum due to lobbying by Kim In-seob, who was recruited by the development company and was a former head of Lee's election campaign, and has referred Kim to trial for typical licensing corruption.

[Kim In-seob/Former CEO of Korea Housing Technology/Feb. 2024: "(Was there approval from Representative Lee Jae-myung regarding the decision to exclude the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation?) …."]

Kim claimed that he "expressed legitimate opinions to obtain the permit and received a share of the project profits," but the court's judgment was different.

The first and second trials recognized that Kim accepted requests from the development company regarding changes in land use and conveyed them to Jeong Jin-sang, who was then Lee's policy secretary.

In return, Kim received 7.45 billion won and the rights to operate a restaurant at the construction site, leading to a five-year prison sentence, which the Supreme Court has confirmed.

It has been acknowledged that there was improper solicitation during the Baekhyeon-dong development process, and that it was conveyed to a close aide of Representative Lee.

However, the court did not determine whether Kim's solicitation actually influenced the project.

Previously, the first trial court for Representative Lee's election law case ruled that the change in land use for Baekhyeon-dong was decided by Representative Lee, deeming his claims of being threatened by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to be false.

[Lee Jae-myung/2021 National Assembly Audit/Then Democratic Party presidential candidate and Gyeonggi Province governor: "(The Ministry of Land) threatened that if (the change in land use for Baekhyeon-dong) is not granted, they would raise issues like dereliction of duty..."]

Whether Kim's solicitation led to preferential treatment will be one of the issues to be clarified in the upcoming trial regarding Representative Lee's allegations of preferential treatment in the Baekhyeon-dong development.

This is KBS News, Kim Tae-hoon.