President`s Son Sentenced to Two Years

An appellate court rendered a prison term to President Kim Dae Jung`s second son Hong-up, who has been on trial for taking bribes from companies. The lower court also ruled that he should serve behind bars.

Yesterday, Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul High Court sentenced the president`s son to two years in prison, and fined him 400 million won (or approximately $350,000). In addition, the court ordered that 260 million won worth of his assets be confiscated.

In the meanwhile, Hong-up`s henchmen also have to serve in prison. Kim Sung-hwan was sentenced to four years. His assets will also be confiscated up to 2 billion won. Furthermore, Yoo Jin-gul and Lee Guh-sung were sentenced to one and a half years each. Moreover, the former has to forfeit 650 million won worth of his assets, and the latter 1.2 billion won.

The court held, "This country experienced a similar corruption case in the previous administration. Nonetheless, the defendant satisfied his greed, using his special status as a son of the incumbent president. The whole country feels dismayed and disappointed. To prevent another occurrence of the crime of this nature, this court renders a severe punishment."

The court also said, "In determining the term for imprisonment, this court considered a couple of factors. First, this court found the defendant remorseful. In addition, the defendant, this court found, was also manipulated by the people around him."

The court found Hong-up involved in Sungwon Construction Co.`s illegal obtaining of a government permit, but fell short of finding him guilty on the count that he received 300 won from the company.

Wearing the blue prison uniform, Hong-up listened, without showing any emotions, to the court`s sentencing, which lasted for about 10 minutes. On hand in the courtroom were about 100 audience including a handful of the Blue House senior officials.

Hong-up was charged with various counts including tax evasion. The prosecution indicted him on those counts in last July. According to the indictment, he did not pay any tax on astronomical amounts of bribes he had received from corporations like Hyundai. Then, at the end of the trial, he was sentenced to three and a half years` imprisonment.

Both of the prosecutors and the defense attorneys said that they would decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court once they finish reviewing the court opinion.

In the past, Kim Hyun-chul, the second son of former President Kim Young-sam, was indicted on various counts of bribery, and sentenced to three years. Upon appeal, the Supreme Court remanded his case, and the Seoul High Court rendered him a "lightened" sentencing of two-year imprisonment, along with more than one billion fine and 524 million won worth of confiscation.

But, Hyun-chul was released from prison on bond in the middle of his appeal in May of 1997 after 5 months behind bars. Then, in 2000, he was granted a pardon, and reinstated.

Jin-Kyun Kil leon@donga.com