Minister Park denies playing role in loan scandal

Culture and Tourism Minister Park Jie-Won today denied his alleged involvement in obtaining an illegitimate loan from Havit Bank for a businessman while he was a spokesman for President Kim Dae-Jung. Park has recently been accused of exerting pressure on the Credit Guarantee Fund to underwrite the shady loan deal. The charges are totally groundless, he said. Minister Park told reporters that Lee Woon-Yong, Yeongdong branch chief of the Fund, who claimed he was requested twice by Park over the telephone to endorse the loan, is a total stranger to him. Allegations of influence-peddling for the illegal loan, his role in collecting political funds and his meddling in the investigative activities of a special police team under the command of the Presidential Office are all untrue, Park said.

He defined the Hanvit loan scandal as a case of malicious fraud through the fabrication of commercial letters of credit. Thus, Park said, he was hardly in a position to play a role in forging such letters for the collection of political donations.