[Editorial] Roh’s Nephew

“My nephew is not involved. This is simply a mistake,” said President Roh, regarding the investigation into the “Sea Story” scandal. However, despite the president’s denial, suspicions are growing even more.

“I suggested strengthening regulation on visual materials three times, but my suggestions were never considered,” said Rep. Chung Dong-chae, former minister of culture and tourism.

“All, except for a few, had no influence whatsoever,” said a member of the Korea Media Rating Board, raising suspicions that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) had its power in the matter usurped.

Lawmaker Park Hyung-joon of the Culture & Tourism Committee raised the suspicion that the ruling party tried to raise political funding, based on conversations between game providers. Some testified that a 386 group of a university demanded 200 million won for influence peddling in the approval process. And a related official at the MCT said that he could not stand the frequent telephone calls made by lawmakers during the prosecutor’s investigation last year.

There are also doubts on former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan’s involvement in the scandal. A businessman was selected as a gift certificate provider just two weeks after playing golf with Lee on March 1. The former prime minister’s decision to overrule MCT’s suggestion to toughen regulations is also dubious. It is also suspicious that most of the companies that were designated as gift certificate providers got out of deficit at once.

The Board of Audit and Inspection head Chun Yoon-chul and Prosecution General Chung Sang-myung said that they will thoroughly investigate all suspicions raised by the media. But President Roh appears to provide guidelines for the investigation. The president should refrain from saying things that appear to be guidelines for the investigation in which his nephew is allegedly involved.