Chief Prosecutor Kim Dae-Woong May Have Tried to Call

Chief prosecutor of the Kwangju High Public Prosecutor`s Office, Kim Dae-Woong (see the picture), who has allegedly leaked investigative information to former standing executive of the Asia-Pacific Peace Foundation Lee Soo-Dong, voluntarily appeared before the central investigative office of the Supreme Public Prosecutor`s Office (SPPO) for questioning in the morning hours of April 24.

This is the first time that an incumbent chief prosecutor of the high public prosecutor`s office is subject to the prosecution`s criminal investigation, not internal inspection, and, considering the circumstance, the prosecution appointed the chief prosecutor of the SPPO central investigative office Kim Jong-Bin to directly investigate the case.

The prosecution noticed the chief prosecutor Kim Dae-Woong to appear in the afternoon of April 25 as a witness, but Kim arrived unexpectedly around 10:15 A.M of the day at the SPPO building in Seocho-Dong, Seocho-Gu, Seoul, and was inquired about alleged unauthorized disclosure of confidential information in a special investigative room.

The prosecution inquired the chief prosecutor Kim on the sources of the leaked information and on whether he called Lee Soo-Dong on November 7, the time SPPO was investigating Lee Yong-Ho case, to inform the investigation plan on former non-executive director of Interpion Inc. Do Seung-Hee, and to say "prepare well."

The prosecution is also investigating on an intelligence tip that the chief prosecutor Kim, as the chief of the Seoul District Public Prosecutor`s Office at that time, tried to talk to Lee Yong-Ho by calling a related person of the investigative team when the central investigation office of SPPO made an emergency arrest of Lee on early September last year.

At that time, the chief prosecutor Kim, immediately after an golf round with former prosecution-general Shin Seung-Nam, former senior executive director of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) Lee Hyung-Taek, allegedly called a related person of the investigative team to "switch over to Lee Yong-Ho", but rejected down. The prosecution will cross-examine with Lee Soo-Dong when the statement of the chief secretary Kim does not fit to that of Lee, and will file a criminal indictment in charges of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information when the suspicion of Kim is confirmed. But some members of the prosecution are cautions on this, saying, "An incumbent chief prosecutor of the high public prosecutor`s office might not be criminally indicted, without any clear physical evidence, based on only a statement of Lee Soo-Dong."

In other story, the prosecution confirmed it as a fact that former CEO of Seoul Music Broadcasting Inc. Kim Seong-Hwan, who was a classmate of vice chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Foundation Kim Hong-Up, has received kickbacks amounting to one billion Won with four or five requests for meddling with order biddings and tax evasion investigation by construction and electrics companies. The prosecution will summon Kim Seong-Hwan next week, and investigate on that. The prosecution confirmed the suspicion that Kim Seong-Hwan received a kickback of 100 million Won from president alias Lee of an electrics facility company, S Power Inc., in early 1999 with a request for order taking of electrics project tendered by the Defense Procurement Agency of the Ministry of Defense. The prosecution views it highly probable that a considerable amount among the one billion Won taken from influence peddling of Kim might have been flowed into Kim Hong-Up or related persons of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, and is going to summon the related persons of the Asia-Pacific Foundation.

Wi-Yong Jung viyonz@donga.com