As investigative authorities accelerate a compulsory investigation into the concealed slush funds of former President Roh Tae-woo’s family, the source of maintenance costs for the 550-pyong (approx. 1,810 square meters) "luxury graveyard" in Paju, Gyeonggi Province—which has been fully covered by the bereaved family—is also coming under the radar of authorities.

With the Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central Public Prosecutors' Office mentioning at the National Assembly the possibility of confiscating criminal proceeds by proving new criminal facts regardless of the defendant's death, observations are rising that, following the 15.2 billion won in foundation contributions, the graveyard management costs could also become a target for verifying the origin of funds.

According to the legal community on the 20th, during a parliamentary audit held the previous day by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly regarding the suspicions surrounding former President Roh's slush funds, Seoul Central Public Prosecutors' Office Chief Prosecutor Park Chul-woo told Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Eui-kyeom, "We need to find new grounds for recovery," adding, "Although the defendant has passed away and cannot receive a guilty verdict, we see the possibility that we can prove it and confiscate it."

The intent is to secure separate grounds for confiscation and collection by proving newly identified facts of receiving money and valuables or concealing criminal proceeds.

The "independent confiscation system" (amendment to the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Concealment of Criminal Proceeds), which passed the National Assembly last August and will take effect next September, allows prosecutors to separately request confiscation and collection from the court even if public prosecution cannot be filed due to the suspect's death.

Previously, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (currently the Seoul Central Public Prosecutors' Office) began tracking concealed funds last August by conducting a seizure and search on the residence in Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, where former President Roh's wife, Kim Ok-suk (91), resides. Using the "Kim Ok-suk 904 billion won memo," which surfaced during the divorce trial of Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK Group and Roh's daughter, Roh So-young, the prosecution is looking into the origin of the 15.2 billion won contributed by Kim Ok-suk to the East Asia Cultural Center (14.7 billion won), where former Ambassador Roh Tae-woo served as chairman, and the Roh Tae-woo Center (500 million won), where she serves as a standing director.

However, when lawmaker Kim asked whether related figures such as Roh So-young, Director of Art Center Nabi, and Roh Jae-heon, Ambassador to China, would be summoned for questioning and subjected to searches, Chief Prosecutor Park stated, "We are carrying out searches and seizures to the necessary extent," while exercising caution on specific investigation details by saying, "It is difficult to confirm."

As the sword of investigative authorities thus zeroes in on the family's suspected concealed funds, the graveyard of former President Roh, located at the highest tier of Donghwa Gyeongmo Park in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, has once again been brought to the table.

Although the burial mound itself is a mere 8.4 square meters (about 2.5 pyeong), the entire graveyard site, surrounded by pyramidal stone staircases and a private lawn plaza, spans a massive 1,810 square meters (about 550 pyeong). This dwarfs the combined area (about 1,730 square meters) of the gravesites of five former presidents—Syngman Rhee, Park Chung-hee, Kim Dae-jung, and Kim Young-sam at the Seoul National Cemetery, and Choi Kyu-hah at the Daejeon National Cemetery.

This is the exact opposite of what the bereaved family initially promised. When deciding on the burial site in 2021, the family publicly promised to create a modest graveyard, stating they would "follow the natural course without placing a burden on the state and society."

The background behind how this promise could be broken and a "550-pyong oversized graveyard" constructed involved "regulatory bypasses" that skirted the legal net. Former President Roh was stripped of his eligibility for burial at a national cemetery after receiving a 17-year prison sentence for the December 12 military insurrection and the May 18 civil war charges. Furthermore, under the current Funeral Services Act, the installation area for facilities per 1-unit corporate cemetery was strictly limited to within 10 square meters (about 3 pyeong).

However, in May 2022, the Ministry of Health and Welfare designated this graveyard as a national preserved graveyard—following that of former President Roh Moo-hyun—exempting it from the upper area limit. This is why persistent criticism has been raised that the bereaved family used the preserved graveyard designation as leverage to bypass regulations under the Funeral Services Act.

At the core of the controversy is the substance of the funds used by wife Kim Ok-suk (91)—who has had no notable income activities—to maintain and manage this large graveyard for five years. The Ministry of Health and Welfare stated, "There is zero government financial support, and the bereaved family is bearing the full cost."

According to National Cemetery data, the annual graveyard management costs for five former presidents amount to approximately 490 million won (as of 2018, 450 million won for Seoul and 37 million won for Daejeon). Even if Donghwa Gyeongmo Park's general grave rate is simply applied to 550 pyeong, the usage fee for 15 years alone is estimated at around 700 million won.

However, according to reports by The Fact, park authorities entrusted with management have remained silent, stating they "cannot confirm" the actual payment amount, raising calls to investigate the origin of the funds funded by the bereaved family.

In the legal community, analyses suggest that the investigation into the origin of the 15.2 billion won could spread to the graveyard management costs. A former prosecutor-turned-lawyer noted, "The core of the independent confiscation system is finding the final destination where illegal proceeds flowed," adding, "If seed money derived from concealed slush funds flowed not only into foundation contributions but also into hundreds of millions of won in graveyard maintenance costs, this, too, could become a connecting link of criminal proceeds subject to confiscation."

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