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Additional suspicions have been raised over the fact that Booyoung bought a painting drawn by the spouse of Prime Minister candidate Han Deok-soo.

At that time, the Booyoung Group attempted to advance into the United States by successively appointing former high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as CEO, and it is suspected that Booyoung may have been helped by a candidate who served as ambassador to the United States.



This is the exclusive report by reporter Jeong Ban-seok.



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Han Deok-soo, a candidate for Prime Minister who served as ambassador to the US for three years from 2009.



In October 2012, when he was the president of the Korea International Trade Association, immediately after his retirement as ambassador, three paintings were sold to Booyoung Housing for 23 million won in a solo exhibition held by his spouse.



Booyoung Group, which established an American corporation in 2007, donated $1 million to George Washington University in April 2013 and signed an agreement for the ondol heating dormitory business.



From July 2006 to April 2013, Booyoung Group recruited three high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as its representatives.



Also, the cousin of the spouse of a candidate who bought 3 paintings has been the president of the US corporation from 2007 to the present.



So, the Democratic Party raised suspicions that Booyoung's purchase of paintings was related to the role of a candidate during his time as ambassador to the United States.



[Shin Dong-geun/Democratic Rep.: Since the role of the prime minister and former ambassador to the United States helped Booyoung housing advance into the United States, wouldn't it be worth buying an amateur artist's painting for tens of millions of won?]



In response, Booyoung explained that there was no actual project in the US at the time, and that the purchase of the painting in exchange for business support was speculative.



A candidate's personnel hearing preparation team countered that the painting was bought by an acquaintance working in Booyeong when her spouse opened the first exhibition after resigning from public office, and that it has nothing to do with business convenience.



(Video coverage: Park Young-il, Park Jin-ho, Choi Jun-sik, Seol Min-hwan, video editing: Kim Jin-won)