Controversies over Substance of `Jin Seung-Hyun Gate`

The controversies over the lobby against the political and bureaucratic circle by Jin Seung-Hyun have been heated by the exploded suspicions related to the direct family of President Kim Dae-Jung. The Grand National Party urged for the investigation on the Presidential families, insisting that the hidden substance of the case about the target of Mr. Jin`s lobby has to be revealed.

Rep. Lee Jae-Oh, floor leader of GNP, said at a press conference yesterday that "in addition to the lobby of convicted Choi Taek-Gon, another lobby was tried by a core person through another person to save Jin Seung-Hyun. This person was a politician. We will disclose the name as the Prosecutors investigation goes."

Kwon Chul-Hyun, spokesperson of GNP, asserted that "suspicions over the lobby against the son of President have been raised by the testimony of Mr. Choi, who said that he met with the second son of the President, Kim Hong-Up, vice Chairperson of the Kim Dae-Jung Peace Foundation for the Asia Pacific Region, before he appeared in the Prosecutors Office. The related person must reveal the truth of the suspicions and the Prosecution also has to verify the truth of the rumor by the investigation with no limit."

At a briefing for the executive meeting, Chang Kwang-Geun commented on the assertion of former lawmaker Park Jung-Hoon that he donated 2.3 billion won for his national constituency seat for the 14th National Assembly, and requested for the disclosure of the political funds of the President, saying that "if the amount of money was that big even when he was the president of an opposition party, how much would it be during his Presidency?"

In response, Lee Nak-Yeon, spokesperson of the New Millennium Democratic Party, remarked that, "The irresponsible opposition party has gone too far by creating, exaggerating, and spreading suspicions. The party must immediately stop such behavior that disturbs the prosecutor`s investigation and increases the distrust of the people."

In addition, spokesperson Lee urged for the unlimited investigation of the Prosecution, saying that, "NMDP will not protect and talk in favor of any person. The opposition party must recognize its own shames that it had misappropriated the tax and the budget of the National Intelligence Service for the presidential campaign."

Chang Chun-Hyung, Vice Spokesperson of NMDP, also commented that "GNP is still on the process of lawsuit for the charge of collecting money by threatening the large business during the Presidential election in 1997. And a core personnel of the party collected dozens of billions of money for the presidential election by the marginal profit of the stock price of a venture business."

Meanwhile, a source from the Prosecution said, "We don`t know if Mr. Choi met with the second son of President and it is questionable whether it should be investigated even if he met with the second son of President."

In-Soo Song issong@donga.com