Accused Owners of Donga, Chosun, Kukmin

The National Tax Service (NTS) announced yesterday that the NTS will make additional collections of over 80 billion won from each `Big three press firms,` including Donga Ilbo (82.7 billion won), Chosun Ilbo, and JoongAng Ilbo.

The NTS requested the public prosecution to bring criminal charges against the three newspaper firms and their owners for the violation of the taxation laws. In addition, the NTS accused the former chief executives of the JoongAng Ilbo, the Hankook Ilbo, and the Korea Daily News for the charge of tax evasion.

Son Young-Lae, commissioner of the Soeul Regional Tax Office, revealed in a press conference that ``while carrying out the tax investigation on the 23 press firms, the NTS detected the tax dodging of the six press firms and their owners, who had hid their income utilizing suspicious bank accounts under borrowed names. Thus, the NTS lodged complaints with the prosecution against them.``

The total amount of the additional collection from the six press firms and their owners is 304.8 billion won, including 82.7 billion won from the Donga Ilbo, 86.4 billion won from the Chosun Ilbo, 85.0 billion from the JoongAng Ilbo, 14.8 billion from the Hankook Ilbo, 20.4 billion from the Kukmin Ilbo, and 15.5 billion from the Korea Daily News. However, the NTS has not revealed the amounts of the additional collections from other firms except for the six newspaper firms.

The owners of the press companies who are charged with the alleged tax dodging include Donga honorary chairperson Kim Byung-Kwan and its vice chairperson Kim Byung-Kun, Chosun president Bang Sang-Hoon, and former president of Kukmin Cho Hee-Jun. It is the first time in the Korean press history to have more than two press owners to be charged together.

Commissioner Son also said, ``The NTS detected the hidden overseas properties of some press companies. However, it takes time to investigate. If necessary, as soon as the investigation is completed, the NTS will release more information in an appropriate time.``

Responding to the NTS`s announcement, the accused press firms filed appeals, insisting that the tax dodging charges are in fact derived from the habitually differences between the business accounting and the tax accounting and also numbers are exaggerated and distorted. And the press firms will follow the legal procedure after they present their appeals.

Most press firms apologized to the readers and the public for the confusions but raised strong questions about the political intention of this press investigation.

Lee Byong-Ki eye@donga.com