Kim Dae-jung’s former chief of staff will spend the next 12 years of his life in the sin-bin for his role in the cash-for-summit scandal. According to the Joongang Ilbo:
Park Jie-won, the former Blue House chief of staff for President Kim Dae-jung, was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison yesterday for accepting 15 billion won ($12.5 million) in bribes and exerting influence in offering cash to North Korea as an incentive to host the inter-Korea summit in 2000.
The Seoul District Court ordered Mr. Park to forfeit 14.8 billion won.
The court said in its ruling that Mr. Park abused his “enormous power” as a key member of Mr. Kim’s administration in demanding the 15 billion won from the Hyundai Group. The court also said he tried to evade responsibility after the cash-for-summit scandal began emerging by pushing the government to use taxpayer money to support Hyundai, which was financially ailing at the time. There was no room for leniency, the court said, because Mr. Park showed no remorse and has steadfastly denied the allegations against him.
He was found guilty on all counts against him. Still, the court said it recognized that Mr. Park’s activities surrounding the June 2000 summit were likely based on what it called a “sense of historic mission” to deliver on government policy at the time. Mr. Park was convicted of receiving bribes from Hyundai for favorable treatment by the government in commercial projects it pursued in North Korea.
The prosecution had also charged that he exerted undue influence to force the Hyundai Group to become the intermediary in the transfer of $500 million in cash to bank accounts held overseas by North Korea. In doing so, he committed violations of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.
Historic mission, my ass. Park is a scumbag, and the only thing that bothers me about this whole mess is that ex-President Kim won’t be joining Park in the slammer.
3 Comments
He’ll be let go within a year by Roh, citing “national reconciliation” or some such drivel.
Twelve years seems like a lot of time for someone found guilty of bribery, especially since a Korean man was sentenced in July to only four years in prison for killing his Filipina wife in front of their child and then throwing her dead body off the balcony of their high-rise apartment to try to make it look like a suicide.
In the bribery case, the judge said he denied Mr. Park leniency because he “showed no remorse and has steadfastly denied the allegations against him.” Isn’t this a Catch-22? How can you show remorse when you are pleading your innocence?
Mr. Park may have committed the crime of which he was found guilty, but imagine if an innocent person is charged and convicted of a crime. Is it right for people to be given more punishment if they continue to insist on their innocence after they are found guilty by the court?
i agree with kevin. the expectation that this guy will actually do the full time is unreasonable. call me a cynic but the annual presidential pardon season is coming up in march. it wouldn’t suprise me to see this guy sprung on account of his contributions to reunification of the motherland and his, hmmm, “sense of historic mission.”