Suspicions over Evasion of Inheritance and Gift Tax

The National Assembly held a confirmation hearing on Prime Minister designate Kim Suk-soo, 70, on Oct. 1, in which he was questioned about the suspicion of evading income tax and gift tax. Rep. Cheong Ui-hwa from the Grand National Party (GNP) raised suspicions over his evading income tax, saying, "Prime Minister designate Kim practiced law since 1997 and he got a fee of 10 million won for a case. Therefore, until now he earned about 3 billion won. However, he declared his income as 1.9 billion won at the tax office."

Members of the confirmation hearing committee also pointed out that he served as an outside director of Samsung Electrics when he was a supreme court justice, and at that time he bought Samsung shares at low prices and got a profit of 113.5 million won. They noted that this showed he is not qualified for premiership in terms of ethics.

Rep. Song Gwang-ho of the United Liberal Democrats was also suspicious of his dodging tax, saying that his spouse wealth quadrupled to 340 million won after he retired as supreme court justice, his eldest son`s asset increased by 100 million won, his second son`s by 320 million won. His point was that his sons` increased wealth was not what they earned on their own.

As for the 9,595 p`y ng(3.954 sq. yds) of land in Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province, which designate Kim said he inherited from his late father, Rep. Kim Duk-bae of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) said that according to the register he bought the land on five occasions from 1952 to 1980. He attacked Mr. Kim, insisting that he got the land registered on five occasions in order to evade gift tax or inheritance tax.

Rep. Bae Gi-un from MDP asked him why his eldest son was exempted from compulsory military service, though he was healthy. According to his military register document, he weighed 65 kgs and he stood 178 cms. He added that he was first rated as class A in a 1985 examination for conscription, but that he got exemption as class E in a 1988 special examination.

Kim Suk-soo replied that he charged 6 million won for a case, and he declared all his income.

He added that if he should pay tax for the money given to his sons, he will pay the gift tax.

As for the Samsung shares, he explained that he did not buy the stock to make profits. He also said that he would not get the unclaimed stock if he worked again as an outside director.

Young-Chan Yoon Hyung-gwon Pu yyc11@donga.com bookum90@donga.com