PPP rep threatens to request investigation into illegal profit accusations

People Power Party Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon leaves the National Assembly briefing room on Sunday after holding a press conference denying the real estate scandal. [YONHAP]

People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon said Sunday he would formally ask authorities to investigate accusations that he illegally tried to earn a profit from a forest area he purchased in Ulsan 25 years ago.
 
In a press conference, Kim, who represents a district in the metropolitan coastal city of Ulsan, which is about 300 kilometers (186 miles) southeast of the capital, adamantly denied allegations of speculation and coercion raised by his critics, stressing he would prove his innocence through a probe conducted by the National Office of Investigation within the police.
 
In case the police conclude that he was involved in any illegality, Kim said he would “immediately” retire from politics.
 
But in the opposite case, if police determine Kim is innocent, the lawmaker said he would hold political and legal accountability against “some lawmakers” who recklessly tarnished his reputation and that of the PPP to show them the consequences of spreading false information.
 
Kim, who was formerly a judge, lawyer and Ulsan mayor, has recently been mired in a real estate scandal raised by Hwang Kyo-ahn, a former prime minister who, along with Kim, is running for the PPP chairmanship.
 
Kim is currently considered to be the strongest candidate to lead President Yoon Suk Yeol’s PPP.
 
In a Realmeter survey of 413 PPP supporters last Tuesday and Wednesday, Kim was the most favored candidate with 44 percent, followed by PPP Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo with 22.6 percent.
 
Hwang came in fourth place with a meager 14.6 percent.
 
Hwang, who served as prime minister during the past Park Geun-hye administration, accused Kim of buying forestland in Ulsan 35,000 pyeong (about 28.6 acres) in size 25 years ago while he was working as a legal adviser to the Ulsan Metropolitan Government. Kim purchased the land the same year that construction for Ulsan Station commenced 2 kilometers away.
 
The main point of contention is why the Ulsan Metropolitan Government altered the route of a road that connected Ulsan Station with nearby areas around the same time that Kim purchased the land, making it pass through Kim’s property.
 
Hwang accused Kim of pressuring the Ulsan mayor at the time so that his land value would spike. At the time, Kim was a lawmaker in Ulsan.
 
Exactly how much Kim’s forestland costs right now is unknown. Kim said he purchased the land at about 286 million won, equaling about 6,000 won per pyeong. Hwang argued that it might cost over 15.5 billion won ($12 million) right now, given that an adjacent forest area sold for 441,000 won per pyeong seven years ago.
 
The opposition Democratic Party said the assessed value for Kim’s land was actually 1,000 won per pyeong at the time, urging Kim to explain why he paid much more. Given that a plot of land nearby sold for 1.83 million won per pyeong in 2020, the DP said Kim would be able to gain at least 1,800 times more than what he spent in 2008 if he were to sell his property today.
 
Kim denied this, saying that, unlike the land the DP was referring to, his land was a reserve forest land which, under law, cannot be developed, therefore had a far lower market value.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]