Prosecution Issued Summons to Three Members of Opposition Party

The Seoul District Prosecution`s Special Division 1 (Park Young Kwan, chief prosecutor) summoned Huh Tae-Yeol, Lee Sang-Bae, and Park Jae-Wook of the Grand National Party (GNP) to appear in court on 23rd and 24th as witnesses in relation to Joo Jin-Woo (GNP)`s involvement in the bidding scandal of the Noryangjin fishery market.

The prosecution plans to investigate what kind of roles the three lawmakers, who are the members of the agricultural and fishery committee at the National Assembly, have played along with Rep. Joo in the process of changing the schedule of the Assembly`s inspection on the Fishery Cooperative Union to the point of time in which the auction of the Noryangjin fishery market was not made yet.

The Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) informed the prosecution against Rep. Joo on September 27, arguing that ``Rep. Joo improperly pressed the Fishery Cooperative Union to take over the Noryangjin fishery market. Some members of the GNP made a comment at the Assembly`s inspection session to make the Fishery Cooperative Union to give up the plan to take over the fishery market.``

Meanwhile, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) is investigating whether `S` industry, owned by Rep. Joo, prearranged the bidding by using other company as a foil to take over the Noryangjin fishery market. It was reported that the KFTC would inform the prosecution against Rep. Joo in due course. The prosecution said, ``The basic investigation on the related officials of the Fishery Cooperative Union is complete. We will decide whether to summon Rep. Joo or not by examining the content of the information by the KFTC.``

Lee Myoung-Gun gun43@donga.com