Former Korea Railroad director Wang Yeong Yong has been arrested on charges he misused his position, and it has been learned that he met with a Cheong Wa Dae official in August of last year and informed him about the oilfield project. That is another revelation that relates to Cheong Wa Dae, since it recently became known that the situation room there looked into the project on its own. Officials say the matter was never reported to higher ups, but even if you leave that question untouched it is an admission that there is a serious problem with the way Cheong Wa Dae gets its data.
The prosecution's investigation is still ahead but even if you look only at Cheong Wa Dae's explanation the behavior of that one official is plenty reason to suspect inappropriate behavior. The official explanation is that Wang met with the official but it was only later that it learned of the oilfield project. It is hard to believe, however, that during a 25 minute meeting there was absolutely no mention of a project that was a key issue. It is even stranger to hear that Cheong Wa Dae learned of the project from its situation room but still took no action. The secretary of civil affairs ended up making the suspicions worse for having learned last month about Wang's visit to Cheong Wa Dae but never disclosing that information.
Prosecutors are getting closer to the core of the oilfield project with their investigation, having on Monday arrested someone by the name of Ji, an aide to National Assembly member Lee Kang Jae, for taking money from Jeon Dae Wol. Though Lee is considered a "witness" they served a search warrant on his office. The prosecution looks resolved to push ahead.
The facts that have been revealed so far are of course not evidence showing that Lee or the inner circle at Cheong Wa Dae were directly involved in the oilfield project. But having seen how Cheong Wa Dae has dealt with the situation, it is much more likely the people will continue to have their suspicions no matter what the results of the investigation may be. The project itself was always against common sense. The suspicions will remain unless prosecutors are thorough in digging into the truth. Cheong Wa Dae fails to see the seriousness of it if it thinks it can avoid responsibility with the explanation that what transpired was never reported to higher levels.
The Hankyoreh, 10 May 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Cheong Wa Dae Making Oilfield Questions Worse |
