Seoul parties trade charges over fund scandal
Seoul parties trade charges over fund scandal
SEOUL (Reuter): South Korea's main parties traded fresh accusations yesterday in a political slush fund controversy ahead of the country's presidential elections.
The ruling New Korea Party (NKP) offered fresh details to back allegations that opposition leader Kim Dae-jung illegally amassed more than 67 billion won ($US73 million) in real and false accounts.
The NKP released bank account details and cheque numbers it said belonged to Kim's slush fund and again demanded state prosecutors investigate.
"What more is needed to start an investigation?" the ruling party said.
"It will not be difficult to apply the law as detailed material to prove criminal action has been provided."
But in a reversal of the charges, Kim's National Congress for New Politics said it was looking into the possibility the NKP had fabricated the evidence with outside cooperation.
"A lot of the material fabricated could not have been put together without help from the Agency for National Security Planning, the prosecution, the national tax office and the bank supervisory board, and we are looking into the legal aspect of this issue," it said.
Local media reported that the state prosecutor's office said it would not probe the issue until a formal complaint was made and solid evidence submitted.
Prosecution officials were not available for comment.
Political analysts said the latest accusations had raised the stakes for those involved in the affair.
"The New Korea Party's accusation is serious. If proven to be true, it can be destructive to Kim Dae-jung," said Kim Byung-kook a professor of political science at Korea University.
"But if the ruling party can't back its claims with concrete evidence, the statement will be problematic for Lee Hoi-chang," Kim said.
Lee, a former supreme court judge, is the NKP's standard- bearer in the December 18 presidential election.
But he has been trailing a poor third in recent opinion polls with about 19 percent support.
Kim Dae-jung, running in his fourth presidential election campaign, has been the front-runner for weeks, commanding around 30 percent support from those surveyed.
The allegations are the latest chapter in South Korea's long- running slush fund scandals that have already put two former presidents behind bars.
Kim Dae-jung revealed in October 1995 that former president Roh Tae-woo had given him two billion won around the time of the 1992 election campaign, when he was running against current President Kim Young-sam.
Roh and another former president, Chun Doo-hwan, are now in jail after being convicted of mutiny, treason and corruption.
The mutiny and treason charges stemmed from their involvement in a coup following the assassination of former strongman president Park Chung-hee.