“Government Collecting Data on Park’s Train Ferry Plan”

While police set out to investigate suspicions surrounding the government’s fabricated report on the Grand National Party’s presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak’s grand canal plan, it was revealed that a governmental institution is collecting research data on GNP presidential candidate Park Geun-hye’s train ferry plan.

On June 21, GNP lawmaker Jeong Hui-soo said, “The Korea Rail Network Authority is collecting data on Park’s train ferry plan.”

In a written answer submitted to Jeong, the Korea Rail Network Authority explained, “We are collecting data to provide a specific plan when a related policy on the Korea-China train ferry project is established.”

Construction and Transportation Minister Lee Yong-sup said at a Construction and Transportation Committee meeting on the same day, “The (37-page) report was not fabricated since it was based on what was discussed among the task force team (composed of researchers from Korea Water Research Corporation, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, and Korea Institute of Construction Technology). It will be really hard to fabricate data unless you are involved with the team. It is certain that the report came from the team, whether intentionally leaked by the team or by a hacker.”

The Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency in charge of the investigation raided the offices of the Korea Water Research Corporation Inspection Planning Team, the Construction and Transportation Ministry Water Resource Policy Team, and the houses of eight employees involved.

At the same time, the National Election Commission submitted a request for an investigation on the report’s leakage to the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office.

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