79 development criminals arrested

On August 6, the Prosecutor-General`s Office stated that it had conducted an intense search for development criminals in June and July, booking 139 persons and arresting 79, including Kim Duck-Ho, City Planning Manager for Yongin City, Kyonggi-do, and Kim Eui-beom, a construction mediation broker.

The Public Prosecutors` Office announced that it carried out an intense crackdown on government officials, including these development criminals, who damaged forests and farm lands through careless regional development and regional settlement corruption, booking 976 people and arresting 401.

According to the Prosecutors` office, Kim Duck-Ho allegedly received 12 million won to approve a change in national land plans during the approval process for an apartment construction venture.

The criminals who have been arrested this time are mainly from the Palgosan, Taegu, Kyongbuk area, offenders who damaged large-scale forests and agricultural land, including areas in Odaesan, Kangwon, and violators who practiced corruption related to new apartment construction approvals in Yongjin, Kyonggi province.

In addition, the Prosecutors` Office said based on the results of audits conducted by the Board of Audit and Inspection, it is carrying out concentrated investigations into suspicions that some Yongin area apartment construction companies gave bribes to government officials.