On Friday the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office indicted former Daewoo chairman Kim Woo Chung on charges he falsified the conglomerate's financial records, having concluded its preliminary investigation. Very little of what prosecutors are saying about what they have found is new, because the focus was on confirming the charges that other Daewoo executive have already been found guilty of, such as doctoring financial records, loan fraud, and hiding assets overseas. The investigation, therefore, might be said to be just beginning.
Prosecutors now need to ascertain all of the circumstances, from how Daewoo's insolvency grew to the degree it did to how the group collapsed. That will be necessary for determining how serious Kim's crimes were, but revealing the truth behind the Daewoo affair will also be an important warning for the future. If the prosecution does not do that now there will be no opportunities in to uncover the truth later on. The names of people who reportedly helped Kim take flight overseas have become public, so it will also be important that those individuals are questioned, too, to determine whether any of them have any responsibility to bear.
Prosecution officials say they are going to look into all the suspicions, such as whether government officials helped Kim amass his illegal funds and whether Kim has hidden assets. That is only a matter of course, and yet already there are voices close to the prosecution claiming it is too late to investigate the secret funds. Prosecutors must not try to conclude their investigation having just uncovered just enough of the irregularities in order to save face.
A month has been scheduled for the second phase of the investigation. That is by no means ample time. Investigators have to approach the case with the attitude that they will investigate until all the questions have been resolved and without time constraints. They would be right also to investigate crimes of Kim's for which the statute of limitations has expired. Prosecutors must keep in mind the fact that suspicions remain when an investigation is not exhaustive enough, and that causes a loss of confidence in the prosecution.
The Hankyoreh, 2 July 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Be Thorough About Kim Woo Choong |
