Police have raided multiple organizations as part of an investigation into allegations that the land ministry changed the route of a capital-area expressway to benefit the family of former first lady Kim Keon-hee.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency sent investigators on Friday morning to the land ministry, the Yangpyeong County Office in Gyeonggi Province, and a private engineering company involved in the Seoul-Yangpyeong expressway project to secure documents and materials related to the allegations.

Civic groups filed complaints against former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong in July 2023, alleging abuse of power in connection with the expressway construction project. 

Won is accused of changing the endpoint of the envisioned expressway connecting Seoul and Yangpyeong, putting it close to land owned by Kim’s family. 

The former land minister scrapped the project in July 2023 due to the controversy.