CCEJ makes vague request for support

It has been revealed that the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) sent request for financial support to various state-run investment corporations for its event planned for Nov. 29 of last year.

The CCEJ sent official requests to five of the state-run investment corporations such as the Korean National Housing Corp. and Korea National Oil Corp. on two separate occasions, Nov. 20 and 21 seeking financial support of 10 million won from each corporation. The letter stated, "We are seeking financial assistance for the 11th anniversary celebration night of the CCEJ on Nov. 29."

Prior to the request for financial assistance, the CCEJ requested Sept. 11 and Nov. 2 a public accounting of the expense funds managed by 13 state-run investment corporations, as well as disclosures of the backgrounds and qualifications of all in-house and external board members currently at the corporations. Then Dec. 28, the CCEJ publicly disclosed the expense accounts of the 13 corporations and accused them of wasting the taxpayers' money.

"It was a bit bewildering to be hit with such request for financial support not long after being requested to disclose our expense accounts" an anonymous source in the state-run corporation said. "In the end, their scheme to obtain financial support while making an issue of our expense accounts seem a little like (blackmail)."

In response, CCEJ policy bureau chief Kim Yong-Hwan said: "While it is true we did send a request for financial support, it was only at the behest of the agencies. Prior to sending the formal request, secretary-general of the CCEJ Lee Suk-Yeon had contacted the various acquaintances at the agencies and was asked to send a formal request as a matter of policy. Of the agencies, we received 1 to 2 million from three of the agencies."

The secretary-general of the CCEJ insisted: "The state-run corporations that supported us financially were those that have a history of support. In our organization, the fund-raising department and the policy division work independently, and it would be erroneous to link the request for financial support with disclosure of expense accounts."