Posted July. 10, 2003 21:54,
Millennium Democratic Party leader Chung Dae-Chul allegedly received an astronomical amount of money from Yoon Chang-yul, the president of a fashion shopping mall management company named Goodmorning City. The prosecution will reportedly summon him in for questioning in the near future. If allegations are verified to some degree, the DA`s office is said to file a formal complaint against him. It is unprecedented in South Korea to see a leader of the ruling party summoned to the DA`s office for questioning. If he goes to jail, it will shock the whole nation.
South Koreans realize the strict enforcement of law by the prosecution. They feel that no one is above the law. At the same time, they lament and resent the dirty political reality. Even the leader of the ruling party took bribes. Some Millennium Democrats are showing sympathy toward Chung, and allege that it is impossible to conduct politics in Korea with just clean money. But ordinary citizens don`t share their sympathy.
Most people say the story in the newspaper represents just the tip of the iceberg. Then, how much is hidden from us? A police officer committed suicide, being unable to pay the bills with his low salary. How could any politicians rake in millions of dollars without hesitation? Due to the symbolic meaning of Chung`s status in the party, quite a number of people begin to doubt the substance of reform the Roh Moo-hyun administration has been chanting.
Chung alleges that he received the money as a political donation during the last presidential election. However, if the bribe amounted to 400 million, as published by the DA`s office, it was well over the limit allowed under law. Naturally, some dark money must have been included. If Chung had taken the money in return for some favor, he could not assert that it was not a bribe. It does not matter whether he knew the source of the money to begin with.
Goodmorning City cheated thousands of innocent people in order to pay him the bribe. He later returned some of the bribe, or 60 million, to the company. It tells us something. He knew the money was something he should have not received from the beginning. Before reporting to the DA`s office, he should apologize to the public and resign from the party leadership. That is the least etiquette he could do for the citizens and his own party.