Full Story of the Presidential Election Funds to be Revealed in a Couple of Days

Representative Lee Sang-soo of the Open Uri Party, who was head of the General Affairs Department of then-presidential candidate Roh Moo-hyun, said November 3, “We are thinking of opening up the presidential elections funds first and then confess to the people. The entire story of the presidential election funds will be revealed in a couple of days.”

PR Chairman Chung, Dong-chae said that at the division of chairman circle meeting, Representative Lee said, “I’m thinking whether to reveal this before the prosecution’s summons or after it.”

Representative Lee called President Roh on November 1 and said, “I’m not ashamed a bit about the funds. I will reveal it all.” The president answered, “I hope you will tell 100 percent of this according to your decision at a proper time. I also hope you will reveal all the details that were transported to the local party chapters,” according to Rep. Lee and Yoon, Tae-young, spokesperson for the Blue House.

Also, Rep. Lee said in a press conference, “The exact amount received from the five corporations was 7.2 billion won.” Related to this, Uri Party officials explained, “Rep. Lee has been explaining that the second-biggest fund came from LG with 1.5 billion won after the SK group with 2.5 billion won, and the rest from Samsung and Hyundai with 1 billion won each and Lotte’s 0.7 billion won. In reality, the support fund of 2 billion won from LG was misunderstood as 1.5 billion, and the total became known as 6.7 billion won mistakenly.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Choe, Byung-ryol from the Grand National Party said on the same day, “The policy to prompt three special investigation bills, that were handed in to the National Assembly, involving the presidential election funds and alleged corruption of President Roh’s close aides is unchanged.”

Rep. Park Sang-chun from the Democratic Party emphasized, “If the prosecution’s investigation gets distorted, a special investigation not only about the president’s close aides but also about the presidential election funds themselves is possible.”

Sung-Won Park swpark@donga.com