The depth of the Lee administration’s corruption

Choi See-joong, former chairman of the Korea Communications Commissions, was arrested Monday night on the charge of accepting bribes worth 700 million won (620,200 U.S. dollars) between 2007 and 2008. In return, he helped grant permits for and approval of a real estate project called Pi City. Before heading into detention, he said, “I deeply regret what I’ve done. I will be indiscreet and overcome challenges.” His belated contrition, however, shows that he hardly thought that taking the dirty money was wrong or that he acted inappropriately as the president’s mentor.

Prosecutors will grill former Vice Knowledge Economy Minister Park Young-jun Wednesday. They are said to have found how the bribes were delivered to Park from Pi City in 2007. Evidence of money laundering was discovered as well. Park has been implicated in a number of bribery scandals in the past, such as one involving a diamond mine in Cameroon. If Choi represents President Lee’s circle of senior confidants, Park stands for the junior group.

In 2005, the urban planning committee of the Seoul Metropolitan Government held a meeting on changing the details of Pi City facilities, and included President Lee’s confidants in key positions: former Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Lee Jong-chan, Future Planning Committee Chairman Kwak Seung-joon and former Vice Culture Minister Shin Jae-min. Most in the urban planning committee opposed the construction of commercial facilities in Pi City due to traffic congestion, but it was allowed in the end. The city government changed the land use on May 11, 2006, when then Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak had 50 days left before the end of his term. The scandal could go beyond the personal culpability of Choi and Park and expose corruption within the Lee administration.

Rep. Lee Sang-deuk, the elder brother of President Lee, is being investigated on the allegation that he has 700 million won (620,200 dollars) in bank accounts under other people’s names and took bribes from savings banks. The president’s sister-in-law and brother-in-law were sent to prison for accepting money in return for favors. In February, President Lee told a news conference on the fourth anniversary of his inauguration, “I feel stuck up whenever I see people around me being involved in corruption cases.” He lamented as if he were a victim, but his “morally perfect” administration has fallen from grace and turned corruption-ridden in four years.

The biggest responsibility of power-related corruption lies with the president, who has obviously failed to keep an eye on what is happening around him. President Lee should not let his guard down until the last day of his term to prevent corruption over his lame-duck period. Prosecutors must also conduct comprehensive investigations regardless of target and root out the sources of corruption within the incumbent administration under law.