The Haengdam Island development project in many ways resembles the oilfield development scandal. Similarities include the fact there were state corporations participating, there are suspicions that influentials in Cheong Wa Dae or other areas of the ruling circle were involved, and that there was a strange contract involved.
At the center of the suspicions lies the question of why the Korea Highway Corporation, which owned only 10 percent shares in the project, signed a contract to sell shares ahead of time to EKI, which owns 90 percent of the project. According to the contract EKI, a joint venture with Singapore, will purchase US$1.5 billion of its stake in the project in 2009. It means that if things went right EKI would enjoy all the fruits of the endeavor and that even if things went wrong it would get back its investment and then some, meaning it was given some very easy special privileges. The highway corporation says it was considering the problems that could occur if the project went wrong, but, put simply, you really wonder. Furthermore, Moon Chung In, chairman of the Presidential Committee on the Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiative, wrote a recommendation so that EKI could issue US$83 million in bonds to finance the project and then those bonds, issued in the US, were all purchased by Korea Post and the Korea Teachers' Credit Union. It is not unreasonable to be asking questions about higher involvement. Moon himself says that it was all essential if the development plans for the larger area to be successful, but you wonder if the people will find that convincing.
The Haengnam Island project has substance, and that makes it look somewhat different than the oilfield development project. Still, it could likely grow and become yet another suspected scandal if the highway corporation does not issue a clear explanation about why it signed a contract that gave away so many benefits and about other questions that remain. The Board of Audit (BAI) and Inspection will lose the public's confidence permanently if it evades going directly at the issue like it did with the oilfield project. The exact circumstances remain to be understood, but the moral laxity at the state corporation must be fully noted. You wonder whether this is the result of corporation officials being too eager to do what higher-ups would like them to. Cheong Wa Dae has to take the situation seriously when it is mentioned yet again in such matters.
The Hankyoreh, 25 May 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Was Haengdam Island a State Project, Too? |
