[Opinion] From `Ilhae` to `Asia-Pacific`

Having a political leaders` meeting on Jan. 11th 1990, President Rho Tae-Woo and Kim Dae-Jung, the president of the Party for Peace and Democracy (PPD), of the time released following agreement to the press, ¡°The government will immediately prepare a measure for the beneficial use of the Ilhae Foundation`s funds.¡°

Later on, the government had worked to separated the Ilhae Foundation from the influence of former President Chun Doo-Hwan, and transformed it to the Sejong Institute, a public research institute. Although it is not unknown that what kind of opinion president Kim Dae-Jung insisted at the meeting, the Ilhae Foundation, as a symbol of the 5th government`s corruption, was pressured to dissolve from the opposition parties in those days.

I do not have the slightest intention to defend the outrage of the Ilhae Foundation during the military regime. Nonetheless, there is no record that the Ilhae Foundation committed corruption, such as receiving a bribe, abuse of power, and intervention in appointments. The opposition parties of the time might asked the dissolution of it because they detested the fact that a dictator had been collected money from companies by abusing his power and because they were afraid of the possibility of Chun`s regency through the Foundation.

After that, Kim Dae-Jung, an opposition party`s leader of the time who had played a role to separate the Ilhae Foundation from Chun, established the Kim Dae-Jung Peace Foundation for the Asia-Pacific Region (FAPR). It is said that history repeats itself. The FAPR is under the criticism of public opinion, and the level of criticism is not weaker than the case of the Ilhae Foundation.

President Kim Dae-Jung has built the FAPR building of 1,500 pyung with 8 billion won during his term of office. The opposition parties blame it as a `Abanggung,` (the palace of a T`ang emperor), like the PPD criticized the Ilhae Foundation in the past. The two foundations are beyond comparison in their fund raising. The FAPR raised 21.3 billion won from 1994 to 2000, and the Ilhae Foundation collected 57.5 billion won. The difference is that while the funds of the latter were clearly revealed in the corruption hearing of the 5th government and those of the former were the self-report amount to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The funds of the FAPR includes the money received for selling of the First Lady`s lots (inYongdeungpo, Seoul and Hwasung, Kyungki), which President Kim promised to donate to a foundation for the disabled people before the presidential election in 1992. Although it gets off the subject, in any case the President should not broke his promise with the 1.5 million of the disabled.

Nowadays, disabled people are having demonstrations for requesting their right to move in Gwanghwamoon, Seoul. They outcry that, ¡°We have the right to use buses.¡° The government said that their right and earnest request cannot be practiced because the insufficient funds to introduce the `wheelchair bus.` If President Kim used the money that he had promised for this project, the issue of the introduction of the `wheelchair bus` might has been solved in some degree.

The disabled people got angry at the shameless attitudes of the FAPR officials, who had been falsely insisted that, ¡°President Kim already carried out his promise,¡° after the disclosure of the falsehood. Is the FAPR a foundation for the disabled? Although the chairman`s contribution of his property to his own foundation may be considered as a donation, the point is that whether the object of the donation is a foundation for the disabled or not.

If the Ilhae Foundation that former President Chun had been involved was a malignant organization to a degree that should had to revert to the state, what about the FAPR under the same criteria? Insisting the differences in their origins and fund-raising methods, the FAPR argues that it should be treated differently from the Ilhae Foundation. However, the public opinion is not easy.

On the contrary, there are several reasons that the FAPR is unfavorable than the Ilhae Foundation. While the latter received money only from the companies, the former received funds even from the candidates for the National Assembly and the local elections (Weekly Donga March 7th edition). Although any officials of the Ilhae Foundation has received a bribe, a director of the FAPR has received a dirty bribe from Lee Yong-Ho and was arrested. In addition, while the officials of the Ilhae Foundation have not intervened in the appointment of government officials, the director of the FAPR is considered as a powerful figure who has received the illegal request for the appointment and promotion of senior government officials, including the positions in military and cultural affairs.

Although the FAPR argues that why it needs to be blamed due to the fault of an individual, it does not make sense if he worked as a responsible official of the foundation. Even after the arrest of the director, a close-figure of the President and influential person of the FAPR, the founder of the FAPR has not given any apology for or explanation about this matter to the public.

Nonetheless, we are cautiously looking into the future. Although the scandal was revealed earlier than expected, do we not already know the conclusion of the history of the Ilhae Foundation, which has been repeated in the FAPR?

Lee Kyu-Min (Editorial member)