[Editorial] High-Level Corruption Suspected in Opo

The prosecution is investigating illegal lobbying by government insiders and high-ranking officials and also suspicions about special favors relating to an apartment development project in Opo, part of Gwangju City, Gyeonggi Province, and the allegations are snowballing in seriousness. The more prosecutors look the more they find circumstances of a web of intense illegal contacts aimed at the government of the province and at Cheong Wa Dae on the part of individuals and companies who have an interest in the big construction project.

To begin with, former Cheong Wa Dae chief of personnel Jeong Chan Yong is suspected of getting actively involved last summer after being asked for help in getting the project approved. A Cheong Wa Dae official called in the section director at the responsible government ministry and introduced him to the middleman and an employee of the construction company, and yet Cheong Wa Dae is issuing the lame excuse that it was just an everyday case of civil affairs. Even if there was never any "pressure from above" or a bribe, the working-level official at the ministry involved surely felt pressured in a big way just by the fact that encounter took place. Jeong once faced allegations of involvement in the Haengdam Island development project but was recently freed from the potential for an indictment. Now the prosecution has to thoroughly investigate these new allegations.

It is also strange that the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) launched a review into the matter. Because of a BAI finding, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation approved the project five months after finally deciding not to. The minister himself was in attendance at many a meeting where it was decided the project was not to be given approval, so it is hard not to think the decision was not specifically targeted with a BAI review because someone campaigned to have that happen.

The prosecution is of the view that everything passed through the Gyeonggi province government and that the government there was the final destination for the corruption as well. It holds the authority to grant the operational permits and licenses for things like pollution controls, so a thorough investigation must uncover the truth about illegal lobbying and special favors there as well. Prosecution investigations are like living organisms. You never know when unexpected leads or new facts are going to surface. The prosecution must not just investigate to prosecute, but should approach the case with the attitude that it is not going to leave any questions unanswered.

The Hankyoreh, 17 November 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]