UN chief Ban Ki-moon advised to either admit the allegation or sue for the libel

A weekly magazine Sisa Journal reported in its latest issue that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon received some 230,000 U.S. dollars in 2005 and 2007 from Park Yeon-cha, former chairman of Taekwang Group. “It’s a complete nonsense and defamation,” Ban’s closest aid denied the report. “We never gave the money in 2005 and 2007, and never gave such a testimony in prosecution investigation in 2009,” Park’s aids also denied the allegation. “I know nothing about it,” said Lee In-guy, former head of a central investigation unit, who directed the investigation on the former chairman in 2009.

Back in May 2005 when Ban was allegedly said to be bribed, he was foreign minister and considering running for U.N. Secretary-General. Early 2007 was right after he was inaugurated as the UN chief. He might have needed some financial resources that couldn’t be secured from national budget in order to be elected for the post. On top of this, some have suggested the connection between former Taekwang Chairman Park and figures in the Roh Moo-hyun administration, which produced the rumor of bribery between Secretary-General Ban and former Chairman Park. It’s too early to predicate the report as true since the sources in the Journal were all anonymous and all the people implicated and investigators are denying the allegation.

Even though Ban’s allegation turns out to be true, criminal punishment can’t be applied to him as its statute of limitation has run out. It was December 2007 when the statute of limitation was revised to 15 years for the bribery of more than 100 million Korean won (approx. 83,282 dollars). The bribery case that happened prior to then is subject to 10 years of statute of limitation. The statute of limitation for some 200,000 dollars that Ban was supposedly received in 2005 when he was a foreign minister was expired. For some 30,000 dollars that he was allegedly bribed in 2007, three years after his retirement, the Political Fund Law may be applied but seven years of statute of limitation for violation of the law was expired as well.

However, Ban who has effectively expressed his plan for running presidential election can’t eliminate the suspicion by just denying the allegation. Ban and Moon Jae-in, former chairman of the Minjoo Party, are now competing for the first place for presidential candidate in different public surveys. It can be said that the validation on the allegation against Ban has already begun even before he made an official announcement for running for presidential election. If he didn’t receive any bribe for sure, he should sue the Sisa Journal for libel based on which the prosecution should initiate the investigation to find the truth.

Former diplomat, Ban has never run for any elective offices in Korea, which means that his political capabilities have never been verified. For possible suspicions to be raised in the future, Ban is advised to admit any suspicions and give explanation if they are true while make firm and early response if they are not true to prevent false propaganda in the first place. In doing so, Korean people will be able to make correct eval‎uation and in turn correct choice for the next president.

pisong@donga.com