Special Counsel Raids Former Minister Won Hee-ryong's Phone Over Yangpyeong Highway Allegations; Scheduling Summons

The second special counsel team has launched a compulsory investigation into former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong regarding allegations of route changes for the Yangpyeong Expressway.
The special counsel team announced that it executed a search and seizure warrant for the former minister's mobile phone today (July 15).
Won is suspected of failing to follow legal procedures during the process of scrapping the Yangpyeong Expressway project.
The special counsel team is also investigating the possibility that higher-level figures were involved in the decision to cancel the project.
The team had previously sent two summons to the former minister, but they were not delivered as the premises were closed and no one was present. It is reported that the team met with Won during today's search and seizure to coordinate a date for his summons.
The allegations surrounding the Yangpyeong Expressway route change involve claims that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport granted special favors by altering the terminal point of the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway project to an area where the family of First Lady Kim Keon-hee owns land in 2023.
The original plan, which designated Yangseo-myeon as the terminal point, had passed a preliminary feasibility study in 2021. However, suspicions arose when the ministry began reviewing a route ending in Gangsang-myeon, where the First Lady's family land is located, in May 2023.
Following the controversy, Won declared the cancellation of the project in July of that year.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.