Korean Scandal (2)
投稿者： wicked_gook_korean 投稿日時： 2007/12/04 16:58 投稿番号： [198009 / 203793]
Scandals have always been a hallmark of South Korea's presidential elections, and the campaign that officially began this week for the Dec. 19 vote is no exception. A former business partner of Lee Myun-bak, the front-runner, was extradited to South Korea this month from Los Angeles, amid speculation he would incriminate the candidate in the alleged money laundering and stock manipulation that brought down their financial services company. Prosecutors are expected to decide next week whether to take action.
Meanwhile, the country's top official at the National Tax Service is under arrest on charges that he took $66,000 in cash from one of his deputies as part of a kickback scheme. And a Seoul court is hearing evidence against Byeon Yang-kyoon, President Roh Moo-hyun's former top policy advisor. Byeon is accused of using his influence to have a female friend hired at a Buddhist university as a professor of Western art history. He has argued that he did not know she had apparently faked her university credentials.
The woman, Shin Jeong-ah, was curator of a Seoul museum and co-director of the Gwangju Biennale, the country's premier art event. Now she has been indicted for allegedly enhancing her academic record, including claiming a nonexistent doctorate from Yale University.
The notoriety of Shin's alleged academic fictions during the summer triggered a deluge of similar embarrassing confessions. Among those accused of lying about their educational qualifications are a highly successful Buddhist monk, a prominent architect, a comic book artist, and belly dancer Ahn, whose television appearances, stage performances and chain of schools called Belly Korea had made her a minor celebrity.
"Education is the top priority in South Korea; it gives a person a sense of pride," says Choi Hyang-ok, an administrator at one of Belly Korea's schools, where she says the prevailing mood is that Ahn was a victim of jealous rivals. "That's why many people wonder, 'Should I exaggerate my credentials if I can?' "
Ahn's resume transgressions are small stuff, however, next to the allegations of comprehensive corruption made against the Samsung Group, a corporate behemoth with interests ranging from electronics to construction and shipbuilding.
According to the company's former top lawyer for seven years until 2004, Samsung has crafted a network of bribery that extends to the judiciary, government tax and finance officials, academia and the media. The attorney, Kim Yong-chol, described a system in which cash was handed over in briefcases, or disguised to look like books or CD cases.
Shielding himself behind a respected organization of Roman Catholic priests, Kim told a nationally televised news conference from a Seoul church that even the country's top prosecutors were on Samsung's payroll. The list included the government's nominee for chief prosecutor and the head of the national commission looking into corruption, he said.
//////To be continued//////
Meanwhile, the country's top official at the National Tax Service is under arrest on charges that he took $66,000 in cash from one of his deputies as part of a kickback scheme. And a Seoul court is hearing evidence against Byeon Yang-kyoon, President Roh Moo-hyun's former top policy advisor. Byeon is accused of using his influence to have a female friend hired at a Buddhist university as a professor of Western art history. He has argued that he did not know she had apparently faked her university credentials.
The woman, Shin Jeong-ah, was curator of a Seoul museum and co-director of the Gwangju Biennale, the country's premier art event. Now she has been indicted for allegedly enhancing her academic record, including claiming a nonexistent doctorate from Yale University.
The notoriety of Shin's alleged academic fictions during the summer triggered a deluge of similar embarrassing confessions. Among those accused of lying about their educational qualifications are a highly successful Buddhist monk, a prominent architect, a comic book artist, and belly dancer Ahn, whose television appearances, stage performances and chain of schools called Belly Korea had made her a minor celebrity.
"Education is the top priority in South Korea; it gives a person a sense of pride," says Choi Hyang-ok, an administrator at one of Belly Korea's schools, where she says the prevailing mood is that Ahn was a victim of jealous rivals. "That's why many people wonder, 'Should I exaggerate my credentials if I can?' "
Ahn's resume transgressions are small stuff, however, next to the allegations of comprehensive corruption made against the Samsung Group, a corporate behemoth with interests ranging from electronics to construction and shipbuilding.
According to the company's former top lawyer for seven years until 2004, Samsung has crafted a network of bribery that extends to the judiciary, government tax and finance officials, academia and the media. The attorney, Kim Yong-chol, described a system in which cash was handed over in briefcases, or disguised to look like books or CD cases.
Shielding himself behind a respected organization of Roman Catholic priests, Kim told a nationally televised news conference from a Seoul church that even the country's top prosecutors were on Samsung's payroll. The list included the government's nominee for chief prosecutor and the head of the national commission looking into corruption, he said.
//////To be continued//////
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