Kim Sang-jin Attempted to Bribe Yeonje District Governor

Kim Sang-jin reportedly attempted to bribe Yeonje District Governor Lee Wi-jun. He is said to have offered him 100,000 dollars. Lee, however, sent it back to Kim. Now, Kim is the target of an ongoing DA investigation into bribery scandals concerning the Yeonsan redevelopment project, over which the Yeonje district has direct supervisory authority.

Thus it seems inevitable the DA’s office will expand the scope of the probe and look into the politicians and government officials Kim had contacted.

District Governor Lee confirmed yesterday, “Around June, I had lunch with Mr. Kim. When it was over, Kim tried to hand me a ‘suspicious bag.’ I resisted, but he dropped it and ran away. So I sent it back to him later.”

He also said, “In early May, a senior officer of Yeonsan Savings and Loan introduced Kim to me. Since the first meeting, Kim twice explained his version of the project at my office.”

Chief prosecutor Jeong Dong-min corroborated this yesterday, saying, “We got tipped off that Kim had tried to bribe District Governor Lee. We were working on it behind the scenes. Now, we will officially review the details of the incident. We have to determine, for example, whether or not Mr. Lee intended to take the bribe.”

The Busan DA’s office will reportedly subpoena Governor Lee in the near future and question him about the incident.

The prosecution will also investigate why the Yeonje district government proposed some modifications to the details of the redevelopment plan, which was originally submitted by another developer.

It transpired that the district government had asked the developer to lower the floor-area ratio from the original 291.85 percent to 285 percent, and from 37 stories to 35.

In the meantime, the DA’s office is considering whether to launch another probe into the Busan municipal government, which had ultimate authority over the project.

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