Sixty-five percent of South Koreans support an independent counsel investigation into a corruption-laden urban development scandal engulfing South Korean politics while 25 percent are against it, a survey showed Friday.

The Gallup Korea poll of 1,000 adults conducted between Tuesday and Thursday also showed 55 percent suspect that Lee Jae-myung, the presidential nominee of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), played a part in the development project in Seongnam, south of Seoul, with a purpose to give a special favor to a small private developer.

Thirty percent said Lee had no intention to give favors to the developer, the survey showed.

The scandal centers on revelations that the previously unheard-of asset management firm, Hwacheon Daeyu, and its seven affiliates reaped profits of more than 1,000 times their investments after the firm was selected as a civilian partner for the 2015 project.

The case has been the hottest issue in the country as Lee was the Seongnam mayor at that time, and Yoo Dong-gyu, one of his close aides, was arrested earlier this month on alleged bribe-taking and breach of trust regarding the project. (Yonhap)