Illegal Structure 'Stalling'… Loans to Younger Sibling Increase

[Anchor]

Prime Minister nominee Han Sung-sook underwent a National Assembly confirmation hearing for the Minister of SMEs and Startups in July of last year. However, it has been revealed that the issues raised at that time remain unresolved, and in some cases, have even worsened.

Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

This is a coffee shop in Yeongeon-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, operated by the younger sibling of Prime Minister nominee Han Sung-sook.

A connecting passage has been installed between the two buildings, with a hole cut through the walls.

Nominee Han purchased these two buildings in 2020.

When Han was a nominee for Minister of SMEs and Startups in July of last year, the Jongno-gu Office already pointed out that the passage was an illegal extension.

[Han Sung-sook / Prime Minister Nominee (July of last year): I am currently in discussions with the Jongno-gu Office regarding the relevant matters (illegal extension) and the adjustments that need to be made.]

However, Han paid only 130,000 won in enforcement fines and has stalled for nearly a year while leaving the illegal structure in place.

A check of the building register shows it is still recorded as an "illegal building."

Recently, however, a steel fence marked "scheduled for demolition" has been erected.

[Local Resident: It has been over 10 days, I don't remember exactly, but it seems to have been about that long. (Has any heavy equipment or workers come to do anything since then?) No, I don't think I've seen anything like that yet.]

During the National Assembly confirmation hearing in July of last year, the 245 million won that Han allegedly lent to her younger sibling in 2016 was also brought under scrutiny.

As there was no loan agreement and it appeared that Han had not received any interest for nine years, suspicions of "gift tax evasion" were raised.

In July of last year, Han explained that her sibling had paid 11.27 million won in gift taxes on the interest of the loan.

However, instead of the principal decreasing, it was revealed that Han lent an additional 100 million won to her sibling in February of this year with a three-year maturity.

The nominee's confirmation hearing preparation team stated that Han plans to faithfully explain issues related to her personal affairs, such as the loans to her sibling, during the confirmation hearing.

(Reported by Bae Moon-san and Shin Jin-soo | Video by Jeon Min-gyu)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.