By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak Wednesday filed a lawsuit to evict a tenant from his building in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul, following reports that the tenant is running a sex business there.
According to Seoul Central District Court, President Lee rents the basement of his Yeongil Building to a tenant on condition that he runs a karaoke bar. Allegations erupted before Lee's election that female waitresses sold sex in the karaoke room.
President Lee claimed that the tenant violated the contract, that he would only use the space for karaoke, by hiring prostitutes and rejected repeated requests from the landlord to vacate the premise.
``I asked him to vacate and I did not file a suit because he promised that he would change the business,'' the president said in a document submitted to the court. ``But his karaoke employed waitresses and operates a sex business, which is a violation of the contract and the promise he made.''
President Lee and the tenant signed the one-year contract in March last year.