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Prosecution Asked for Making Issue of Alleged Military Evasion by Son of Candidate Lee’s

Prosecution Asked for Making Issue of Alleged Military Evasion by Son of Candidate Lee’s

Posted August. 21, 2002 22:46,   

한국어

A rumor popped up today, stirring a huge sensation regarding the Military Scandal. The rumor has it that the Prosecution asked a Millennium Democratic Party’s (MDP) Congressman to make an issue of the suspicion regarding evasion of military service by sons of Grand National Party’s (GNP) presidential candidate Lee Hui-chang so that the Prosecutors’ Office could launch an investigation into the matter.

MDP’s Congressman Lee Hae-chan said, in his August 21st meeting with reporters, “I heard that the Prosecution’s investigation team got to secure statements in the process of questioning Kim Kil-boo for the corruption charge against him, the former head of Military Manpower Administration (MMA). The statements were concerning the exemption of candidate Lee’s sons and the Office determined the statements worth investigating. The Prosecutors’ Office could not launch a probe only with circumstantial evidence. That is why the Office asked me to first raise the issue in the congressional hearing.”

Rep. Lee added, “The Office had three items of circumstantial evidence regarding the alleged military evasion. But when we conducted investigation, one of them was not true so that I did not mention it during the congressional hearing.”

In response, GNP’s Congressman Hong Joon-pyo, chairman of the 1st political committee within the GNP, requested for the immediate firing of Chief Prosecutor Park, saying, “Rep. Lee’s remarks themselves definitively prove that Chief Prosecutor Park Young-kwan of Special Unit 1 was attached to politicians.”

Congressman Lee Jae-oh, chairman of GNP’s investigating board regarding Kim Dae-up’s allegations, criticized, “What we [GNP] have argued so has been being known true. We have argued that MDP’s politicians manipulated the truth. As shown through the report made by Rep. Chun Yong-taek, the MDP and the Prosecution cut a secret deal to push ahead with the manipulation. That is what Rep. Lee has confessed.”

Congressman Lee Haw-chan explained that the three circumstantial evidences refer to the botched-up medical records on candidate Lee’s first son Chung-hyun; a meeting held to cover up the military evasion (during the ’97 presidential election); and Former MMP’s head Kim’s silence ever since he met with his counsel Mr. Choi, who is also a son-in-law of candidate Lee. But, later, it transpired that the attorney who met with Mr. Kim was not the son-in-law of candidate Lee, but another lawyer having a similar name. Thus, he did not mention this matter in Congress.

Rep. Lee issued a statement right after his remarks at the conference and said, “In preparing for the March Congressional Hearing, I got to obtain the information regarding candidate Lee’s son’s military evasion. But some parts of it were true and others not. Thus, I did not make any questions due to the lack of the information’s credibility.”

In the meanwhile, Chief Prosecutor Park strongly denied his involvement by saying, “I have never met with Congressman Lee. I have not even talked with him over the phone, either. I don’t understand why he made such remarks.”



Jeong-Hun Kim Myoung-Gun Lee jnghn@donga.com gun43@donga.com