Supreme Court justice denies any link to Daejang-dong development scandal

Supreme Court Justice Cho Jae-youn on Wednesday categorically denied any link to a massive development scandal following a newspaper report that a central figure in the scandal promised him a luxury house.

Cho made the remark during a press conference after the Hankook Ilbo daily reported last week that Kim Man-bae, the owner of an asset firm at the center of the scandal, said he promised a house worth about 5 billion won ($4.2 million) to an incumbent Supreme Court justice.

"It is completely groundless," the 66-year-old justice said, adding he is willing to provide his official resident registration records as evidence, if requested. "I have neither met Kim Man-bae officially or personally nor known or talked to him."

Cho also said he will consider taking legal action against what he calls "serious defamation."

"I have a question over why these allegations surrounding the Daejang-dong scandal, a major political controversy, were reported just ahead of the presidential election," he said.

Cho is the first sitting Supreme Court justice ever to hold a press conference.

The scandal centers on revelations that Kim's little-known asset management company, Hwacheon Daeyu, reaped astronomical profits from its investment in an apartment development project in Seongnam's Daejang district in 2015.

The scandal has received intense media coverage as the project was carried out when Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party, was mayor of Seongnam and former key aides to Lee were involved.

It is one of the hotly debated issues between Lee and his main opposition rival Yoon Suk-yeol ahead of the March 9 election. Yoon's People Power Party has claimed that Lee is the mastermind of the whole corruption scheme.

Lee and the ruling Democratic Party have struck back at the PPP with allegations of Yoon's possible involvement, citing news reports that a house of Yoon's father in western Seoul was purchased by Kim's elder sister. (Yonhap)