Won Hee-ryong, nominated to lead the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, speaks to reporters at the entrance to Gwacheon Government Complex, Monday. Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

Former Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong is coming under fire after being nominated to lead the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport despite lacking relevant expertise, according to critics, Monday.

The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said the nomination is an apparent reward for spearheading a smear campaign for President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol of the People Power Party, mostly by raising corruption allegations against the ruling party's defeated presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung.

Won accused Lee, a former Gyeonggi governor and Seongnam mayor, of being deeply involved in a land and commercial district development project to the amount of over 1 trillion won ($810 million) in Daejang-dong in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, saying that Lee helped a construction firm and six key figures related to the firm to net 404.4 billion won, or 68.4 percent of 590 billion won, in dividends from the project.

"The nomination of Won shows President-elect Yoon lacks principles in policy directives, a concerning choice and far from selecting figures that are deemed as the best fit for the daunting tasks they face," DPK floor leader Park Hong-keun said.