Photo: Daejang-dong development projection. Credit: Seongnam Park.
Newly surfaced recorded phone calls in the Daejang-dong real estate scandal 대장동 사건 implicated a sitting Supreme Court justice.
Previously, it was reported that a recorded phone call by Jeong Yeong-hak 정영학, one of the developers for the Daejang-dong project, referred to a “him” who was scheduled to receive large dividends out of the profits generated from the real estate development. (See previous coverage, “The Daejang-dong Scandal.”) The People Power Party 국민의힘 and its presidential candidate Yun Seok-yeol 윤석열 have claimed that “him” was Lee Jae-myung 이재명, who was the mayor of Seongnam 성남시 in which Daejang-dong is located.
An exclusive by Hankook Ilbo 한국일보, however, reported that the Public Prosecutors’ Office 검찰청 had identified “him” as Supreme Court Justice Jo Jae-yeon 조재연 대법관. Lee Jae-myung’s campaign said “all suspicions were completely cleared,” and demanded Yun to apologize.