Lawmakers call for financial watchdog retooling

The lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties demanded in their parliamentary interpellation Thursday that the position and the functions of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) be readjusted, noting that its officials were involved in various corrupt practices and neglecting their supervisory duties.

Rep. Park Jong-Keun of the opposition Grand National Party asserted that the FSS needs to be revamped as it has been at the center of bureaucratic finance and a hotbed of power-related corruption and irregularities.

Rep. Chang Sung-Won of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party, claiming that the Donbang illegal loan scandal exposed the existence of a forbidden sector which the government's management and supervision could not reach, called for the government to come up with measures to prevent collusion between the FSS and private savings and trust funds.

Rep. Kim Taek-Kee of the MDP stated that unless government officials change their mindset, any amount of public fund injections would be useless.

Rep. Yim Tae-Hee of the GNP asserted that probes have not been conducted into rampant allegations that a specific venture firm was engaged in illegal foreign exchange transactions and stock price manipulations.

Meanwhile, Rep. Kwack Chi-Young of the MDP, saying that venture businesses are a prime force in the nation's economic development, asserted that a special law should be enacted in order to build knowledge-information belts across the country while eliminating restrictions once and for all.

Prime Minister Lee Han-Dong said in response that Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. (HEC) is expected to announce a viable self-rescue plan before long. If the construction company fails to normalize itself by the end of the year, he added, capital reduction and debt-for-equity swaps will be promoted, and if a liquidity problem resurfaces, HEC will be put under court receivership.