Park Jie-won Sentenced To A 12-Year Jail Term

Park Jie-won, a former Minister of Culture and Tourism who has been in custody for orchestrating an illegal cash transfer to North Korea ahead of the 2000 inter-Korean summit and taking 15 billion won in bribes from Hyundai Group, was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a local court.

The Seoul District Court ruled on Friday that Park was guilty of all the charges against him, and handed down a 12-year sentence while also imposing 14.75 billion won in fines. In a statement, the local court acknowledged that the accused received 15 billion won from Hyundai since statements from both Lee Ik-chi, a former chairman of Hyundai Securities who transferred the money directly to Park, and Kim Young-wan, who laundered the money, were considered to be accurate.

The court additionally said, “Such a heavy sentence for the former presidential chief of staff was inevitable considering the amount of damage he caused to the economy. Moreover, he steadfastly denied allegations that he had misused his authority to ask for 15 billion won from Hyundai Group for his personal gain and illegally financed, in return for bribes, the troubled Hyundai Group which needed immediate restructuring.”

The court did not accept as new evidence a photo indicating his innocence. His lawyer argued that the photo demonstrated that the accused actually saw a play on the day he allegedly took money from the business group. The court said there was not enough evidence to prove that he received the money on that day.

The court, however, recognized his positive role in the inter-Korean summit, saying, “In the case of the illegal money transfer to North Korea, it was related to the duties of his office, and the defendant was well aware of the historic value of the inter-Korean summit. There is also a need to look at the positive impact of the summit on relations between South and North Korea.” Park’s lawyer said he would take the case to a higher court.

Park was originally sentenced to a 20-year jail term for orchestrating the illegal cash transfer to North Korea, improperly extending loans to Hyundai Group ahead of the inter-Korean summit and taking 15 billion won in bribes in exchange for helping Hyundai Group launch its new casino business.

The prosecution imposed 2.8 billion won in fines and an additional 12.1 billion won in punitive damages, but the court said he should be ordered to pay all the money he received from Hyundai Group in fines.

李相錄 金秀卿 myzodan@donga.com skkim@donga.com