[Editorial] Roh Camp Should Reveal Everything About Presidential Election Funds

Recently, it has been the talk of the town that Seo Jeong-woo, a lawyer who served as a legal adviser to Lee Hoi-chang, the former presidential candidate of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP), received a truck carrying 15 billion won from LG Group last year before the presidential election campaign period. What a wonderful tactic this is! The scene of them moving 10 billion won of SK slush funds in the basement parking lot reminds me of exciting spy movies or financial agencies’ special operations for money delivery.

Besides, the fact that a lawyer with experience serving as a judge, who should observe laws more than anybody else, broke the law completely astonishes the Korean public. Such a violation not only stiffens distrust of politics but also dampens the energy of common people who work hard every day.

More importantly, such cozy relations between politics and business are not related to only one political party. There is nobody in Korea who believes that only the Lee Hoi-chang camp received and spent illegal funds and the Roh Moo-hyun camp is innocent of any suspicion. In fact, the Millennium Democratic Party suspected publicly that tens of billions of illegal funds were delivered to Roh’s camp. And, some argue that after the election, Roh’s aides were swamped with a large amount of funds, which were provided in celebration of Roh’s election.

In this context, it is fair for the Roh camp to have to make a confession too. Rather than watching the uncovering of the Lee camp and the Grand National Party’s illegal activities and strengthening oppression of them, the Roh camp should also have to reveal everything and cooperate with the prosecution’s investigation. This is the duty of the winner of the presidential election and the responsibility of the ruling party, which should play a leading role in addressing the current illegal funds scandal.

On top of that, there is an impression that the prosecution’s investigation focuses only on the Grand National Party. This is why the GNP criticizes the prosecution for its unfair, strategic investigation. Even though Prosecutor General Song Kwang-soo said, “The investigation is carried out without any partiality,” the current pattern of investigation casts doubt on his remarks. A complete confession from the Roh camp will provide strong momentum that can ensure a fair investigation by the prosecution.