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Former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s presidential residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul / Korea Instances picture by Choi Joo-yeon
An indoor golf driving vary was discovered to have been constructed illegally on the presidential residence compound utilized by ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol, the state auditor stated Thursday.
The ability was constructed on the orders of then Presidential Safety Service (PSS) chief Kim Yong-hyun and disguised as a guard put up in official development paperwork, the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) stated in a report.
The BAI didn’t state whether or not Yoon personally gave the orders for the driving vary or the extent to which he was concerned within the development course of, because it was unable to confirm the main points with Kim, who’s at present jailed over his position in Yoon’s failed imposition of martial regulation in December 2024.
Yoon has additionally been jailed over the martial regulation try.
The driving vary was constructed as an extension of an present constructing and lined 69.5 sq. meters. To ensure that the PSS to assemble a golf driving vary or use it following completion, the approval of the inside and finance ministries was required below state property regulation.
Nonetheless, the PSS didn’t comply with the mandatory procedures to start or full development, the BAI stated.
Yoon relocated the presidential workplace and residence in 2022 to satisfy a marketing campaign pledge to attach higher with the general public. The workplace and residence, which had each been positioned on the Cheong Wa Dae compound, had been moved to what had been then the protection ministry compound and the overseas minister’s residence, respectively.
The BAI stated Kim known as a dozen workers members to the presidential residence in Could 2022 and instructed them to assemble a golf driving vary on the compound.
Kim instructed one senior official to take specific care to not let the development change into recognized, and the official later wrote up a development plan that disguised the aim as constructing a guard put up and the main points as the development of an “staff’ ready space,” based on the auditor.
The PSS additionally ordered Hyundai Engineering & Building (E&C) Co. to start work earlier than signing a contract and solely paid the price of 135 million received ($94,380) after the power was accomplished in August 2022. Of the whole quantity, the price of developing the golf driving vary got here to 104 million received, the auditor stated.
The PSS didn’t report the development plan to the native district workplace as required.
In the meantime, Hyundai E&C entrusted the complete undertaking to a subcontractor in violation of the regulation and demanded it bear all prices, leading to 190 million received in losses for the subcontractor.
“The then chief and deputy chief of the PSS knew from the beginning that the power was for use by the president,” the BAI stated in its report. “It’s tough to treat the (development) of a facility utilized by the president because the job of the PSS, as it’s the work of the presidential secretariat.”
Whereas visiting the development website, Kim gave particular orders to plant timber to cover the driving vary from view, transfer the golf bay “to the middle” and set up a mirror that doesn’t break.
He was additionally discovered to have ordered the preparation of a draft proposal for the inside of the driving vary to be offered to Yoon, suggesting he might have been conscious of the development course of.
The BAI additionally discovered traces that the driving vary had been used.
“We couldn’t affirm the precise interval of use, however there have been marks displaying a ball was hit to observe golf,” a BAI official stated.
The auditor stated it has requested the PSS give you disciplinary and different measures in opposition to the staff and development firm officers who had been concerned within the case.
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