Ruling party accused of scandal role

Rep. Lee Joo-Young of the Grand National Party has raised the possibility of the involvement of four key members of the ruling party in the private fund of Korea Digital Line president Chung Hyun-Joon.

At the National Assembly inspection of the administration, Lee questioned the prosecutor's office whether senior members of the Democratic Millennium Party like Kwon No-Kap, Kim Ok-Doo and Kim Hong-Il, son of President Kim Dae-Jung, and Park Joon-Young, chief information officer for the president, participated in the controversial Chung fund.

Park Soon-Yong, the public prosecutor general, denied it, saying that he hasn't received any such report. He brought the member list of the Chung Hyun-Joon fund that the Seoul Prosecutor's Office has obtained.

"The list of 653 members who joined Chung's five private funds (70.3 billion won) does not include such names," he said.

Rep. Chung Jung-Bae of the ruling party demanded Lee's apology and elimination of the remarks from the stenographic record, as his allegations were found to be false. However, the opposition party members countered that the question was intended to clarify the controversy. Eventually, the inspection was adjourned automatically, as all GNP members left the meeting hall at around 10.35 p.m.

Lee said that he has raised the question as he has his own source of information, adding that it was reported in the paper and rumors about it have spread among people.