hankyoreh

By Park Young-rule, Staff Writer

Former Seoul Vice Mayor Yang Yun-jae, who was sent to prison for taking bribes during the Cheonggyecheon Stream restoration project, has stirred controversy by being appointed to a committee charged with construction in waterside areas in connection with the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project. The committee, which was formed in September in accordance with a special law on riverside areas, is a body of central importance that discusses major policies such as zoning and zone changing of riverside areas along the four major rivers, establishment of implementation plans, and management of funds.

Yang, 62, a former professor of Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Environmental Studies, was recruited and placed in charge of the Cheonggyecheon restoration project in 2003, when President Lee Myung-bak was mayor of Seoul. In July 2004, he was promoted to become vice mayor of Seoul. In May 2005, Yang was detained on charges of having taken several hundred million won (several hundred thousand dollars) in bribes from a real estate development company in December 2003, while in charge of the Cheonggyecheon project. In June 2006, a final Supreme Court ruling sentenced Yang to five years in prison and he was fired from his position at Seoul National University.

Yang received a special Liberation Day pardon in 2008, however, six months after Lee Myung-bak took office as president. Four months later, he was chosen as a civilian member of the Presidential Commission on Architecture Policy, a body under direct presidential control, prompting accusations of a return favor appointment.

“Appointing somebody that was sentenced to five years in prison for taking bribes as a member of a waterside area development committee that discusses large-scale development projects is incomprehensible,” said Lee Chul-jae, a manager at the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement. “The appointment of Yang, who has an exceptional relationship to President Lee, must be withdrawn.”

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