Now the UN Secretary General has been dragged into the corruption probe which is one of the biggest stories of the year in South Korea:
Ban Ki-moon
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has denied media reports stating that he had an amicable relationship with a late construction tycoon who claimed to have provided money to politicians for years, attempting to distance himself from a snowballing political scandal in his home country.
In an interview on Thursday with Yonhap News Agency shortly after meeting with U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Ban denied alleged ties to Sung Wan-jong.
Shortly before his death, Sung, the former chairman of Keangnam Enterprises and a former lawmaker, said that he had put money into the pockets of top politicians and government officials for years, and also claimed to be one of Ban’s patrons.
“This scandal has nothing to do with me,” Ban told Yonhap News. “I saw him at a few public events, but there was no special relationship.”
“I have no interest in Korean politics, and I don’t have time to pay attention to it,” Ban added. “I have made this position clear in the past, and I am baffled to be facing this situation again.”
Despite Ban’s continued denials that he will begin a political career in Korea after his tenure at the United Nations is complete, speculations have lingered at home that he is being groomed by opposition lawmakers to run in the 2017 presidential race. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but Sung Wan-jong has a long history of bragging about his special relationship with Ban Ki-moon.
It is going to be hard for President Park to launch an anti-corruption campaign in the wake of the Sewol ferry boat tragedy when the people around her that are supposed to implement it are all taking bribes if the allegations are true:
Sung, the chairman of Keangnam Enterprises, died in an apparent suicide after leaving the list.
Although President Park ordered the prosecution to conduct a thorough investigation into the graft scandal, Sunday, Cheong Wa Dae has refrained from commenting on the issue.
In a bid to fight corruption, she vowed again Thursday that anyone who is found to be involved in any illicit activities will face the consequences without exception.
Park’s biggest political hurdle would appear to be the besieged prime minister, because Lee is leading the government’s ambitious anti-corruption campaign.
The Kyunghyang Shinmun, which interviewed Sung hours before his death, reported Tuesday that the businessman said he had given Lee 30 million won ($27,000) during the 2013 by-elections, when Lee ran for a parliamentary seat representing Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province.
Park has set her sights on fighting graft as part of strengthening her control because the April 16, 2014 sinking of the ferry Sewol, which hit her administration hard, was blamed on collusive ties between ferry operators, regulators and politicians.
In addition, Park’s plans to reform the debt-heavy pension system for civil servants and the stiff labor market are also expected to hit a snag amid intensifying political attacks from opposition parties. The processing of economy-related bills pending before the National Assembly is also not on the cards in the short-term. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but I don’t understand why the Korean politicians don’t just legalize bribery and just call it campaign contributions like how the US political system works.
It will be interesting to see where this goes in regards to for example members of the media being covered by this bill even though they are not public servants:
Admitting to hastiness and poor preparation, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle vowed Wednesday to revise the controversial anti-graft law they passed only one day earlier.
The National Assembly Tuesday passed tough anti-corruption legislation after years of debate despite concerns that it would surely face constitutional challenges for its vagueness and overly wide scope.
On Wednesday, even lawmakers who voted the bill into law admitted a need for revisions. “We will listen to all the voices pointing to shortfalls with a humble attitude,” said Rep. Yoo Seong-min, floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party who participated in the negotiations with the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) over the law. “During the one and a half years of grace period before it takes effect, we will make necessary modifications.” According to the law, a public official will face criminal punishment for receiving money or favors worth more than 1 million won ($912) even if they are unrelated to his or her job. Beyond bribes, entertainment like expensive meals, golf games and paid vacations is also covered by the law. A wide range of professions including civil servants, legislators, teachers at private schools and employees of media companies are covered because the law considers the nature of their work “public.” Their spouses will also be covered.
In media companies, both journalists and people in non-journalism related jobs will be covered. NPAD Rep. Lee Sang-min, chairman of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, called the law “unconstitutional” and “unreasonable,” promising to make speedy revisions.
“Almost all lawmakers pointed to the law’s problems and they said it seemed unconstitutional,” Lee said in an interview with CBS radio. “The scope of the law was expanded unreasonably to the media and the private sector. The law was too ambiguous and it is destined to create many innocent victims.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but the golf course and massage parlors in Korea must be in a panic about now.
It is sad that it took a major tragedy like the sinking of the Sewol to expose just how the corruption of public officials in South Korea had become a major safety hazard:
The National Assembly of South Korea passed an anticorruption law on Tuesday that calls for up to three years in prison for journalists, teachers and public servants who accept single cash donations or gifts valued at more than a million won, or about $910.
Passage of the law signaled a milestone in the country, where bestowing and receiving envelopes of cash and other gifts have long been part of the culture — and a suspected channel of bribery.
In South Korea, businesspeople, politicians and senior government officials often host expensive dinners, send gift sets during holidays and make cash donations at weddings and funerals, making it difficult to determine what amounts to corruption and what should be accepted as part of social etiquette.
Until now, people have been punished for graft only when it was established in court that they had accepted a gift in return for doing a specific favor, like helping the gift-giver obtain a government license or school admission.
Such a stringent legal requirement has raised concerns that much of the corruption in the country has gone unpunished, especially the so-called sponsorship relationships that some businesspeople and politicians were said to maintain with prosecutors, government officials and journalists. Under that arrangement, the “sponsors” would wine and dine the recipients, as well as provide them with financial support, not necessarily for any immediate favor but for long-term collusive ties.
Under the new law, which is to take effect in October 2016, public servants, teachers and journalists will face fines or prison terms of up to three years for taking such gifts exceeding about $910, regardless of whether there is evidence of bribery or influence-peddling.
They will face similar punishment if their spouses receive such gifts from people that involve conflicts of interest. (Those who report their spouse’s gifts to the authorities will be exempt.) Those who receive gifts valued at less than the designated amount may be fined if those gifts involve a conflict of interest. [New York Times]
You can read more at the link,but I wonder how long before the Korean politicians discover campaign contributions as a way around anti-corruption laws?
Prosecutors on Tuesday indicted former Navy Chief of Staff Jung Ok-keun over accusations that he took 770 million won ($700,000) in bribes from a local shipbuilding conglomerate when he held the position in 2008.
The 63-year-old was arrested late last month on suspicions that he received kickbacks from two subsidiaries under the now financially crippled STX Corporation through a yachting company, whose majority stakeholder was his 38-year-old son.
Jung’s son was detained a day earlier on charges that he allegedly pocketed money from STX Offshore and Shipbuilding and STX Engine by recording them as sponsors for his yachting event, which was organized in Busan to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Navy’s establishment.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office has since been narrowing its investigation into whether Jung could have benefited from his eldest son’s business dealings.
Jung’s son and his business partner at the time, a former Navy colonel surnamed Yoo, were also indicted on Tuesday for contributing to the bribery, as was a former Navy operations commander surnamed Yoon, who is the non-executive director of STX. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but it makes you wonder how many other people have been getting these huge bribes?
I wonder if there is more to this story that just went down to the bottom of the Han River:
A former Navy rear admiral under investigation over his alleged involvement in a defense industry graft case jumped off a bridge in a Seoul suburb on Wednesday, police said.
The Gyeonggi Goyang Police Station said an unidentified person called at 8:10 a.m. to say the 61-year-old man, identified only by his surname Ham, plunged off the bridge over the Han River that flows through Seoul into the Yellow Sea.
Ham, also a former executive member of a defense firm, was scheduled to face questioning this morning. Prosecutors said they considered him a witness, rather than a suspect.
The details of the case he was involved in were not immediately clear. He was once in charge of the Navy’s shipbuilding division.
“We send our condolences to the bereaved family for this tragedy,” an official investigating the case said, asking not to be named. “Ham never complained about the interrogation process and we’re confident we’ve followed the proper protocol.”
Police said they discovered a car, a suicide note and a pair of shoes near the scene. Professional divers have been deployed to search for the body, they said.
In November, South Korea launched a task force comprised of prosecutors, military officers and government officials to root out corruption in the defense industry.
The move came after an expensive homegrown salvage ship was proved defective at the peak of efforts to save those missing from a ferry disaster last year. The sinking claimed more than 300 lives. [Yonhap]
This just goes to show that anyone that had anything remotely to do with what went wrong with the Sewol tragedy is coming under fire:
The state auditor will request the Ministry of National Defense to take disciplinary action against Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Hwang Ki-chul and hold him responsible for a case of defense industry corruption involving a faulty Navy ship, insiders said Tuesday.
The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) concluded that Hwang was deeply engaged in the process of selecting a supplier of an outdated sonar system for the first domestic-made rescue and salvage ship, the 3,500-ton Tongyeong, in January 2009. At that time he was serving as head of the department in charge of the vessel project at the military procurement agency.
Launched in September 2012, the ship failed to take part in the rescue operation after the Sewol ferry sank in April because of the malfunctioning sonar system. It sparked a huge controversy over deep-rooted corruption in the nation’s defense industry.
According to the BAI, Hwang pushed for a purchase agreement with the supplier even before the Defense Acquisition Program Administration secured the proper evaluation data. He also gave the company preference by postponing the deadline twice for submitting a plan for the project. [Korea Times]
It will be interesting to see if the Chinese military decide to crush this guy to make an example of him
BEIJING (Reuters) – One of China’s most senior former military officers hoarded more than a ton of cash and precious jade in his basement, a Hong Kong magazine reported on Thursday, the latest details to emerge from the high-profile case amid Beijing’s war on graft.
Military prosecutors have said that Xu Caihou, a former vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission, had confessed to taking “massive” bribes in exchange for help in promotions.
Officials say Xu, who retired as vice chairman last year and from the ruling Communist Party’s decision-making Politburo in 2012, will likely face a court martial now that an investigation has been finished.
In March, prosecutors searched Xu’s luxury home in Beijing and discovered stashed in the basement “more than a ton” of U.S. dollars, euros and Chinese yuan, reported Phoenix Weekly, a magazine run by Hong Kong broadcaster Phoenix Television. (Reuters)
Han Myeong-sook (C), the former prime minister under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, speaks to reporters at the Seoul Appellate Court on Sept. 16, 2013. The court sentenced her to two years in prison, convicting her of taking bribes from a local businessmen in exchange for business favors. (Yonhap)
Just when you thought you had seen it all in regards to corruption someone finds a new way to screw taxpayers for his own benefit:
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The former captain of the destroyer USS Mustin, a Navy special agent and a Singapore-based defense contractor have been arrested in connection with an alleged bribery scheme to swap classified ship information for luxury travel and prostitutes, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday.
Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz, a captain-select, who commanded Mustin and later served as deputy operations officer aboard the USS Blue Ridge for the Yokosuka-based U.S. 7th Fleet, was arrested Monday in Colorado, where he works at Peterson Air Force Base.
Naval Criminal Investigative Service supervisory agent John Bertrand Beliveau II was arrested in Virginia, and Leonard Glenn Francis, head of Glenn Defense Marine Asia, or GDMA, was arrested in San Diego on Monday, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Diego.
Misiewicz steered the aircraft carriers USS George Washington and USS John C. Stennis, the USS Blue Ridge and other ships to so-called “pearl ports” — international ports with lax oversight — where Francis’ company could overcharge the Navy for millions of dollars in services to moored ships, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday. [Stars and Stripes]
You can read more at the link but you would think it would be in the best interest of the Navy to use ports that cost less to dock and resupply at in the first place?
