Kim Hong-up took 4.7 Bil. Won in Bribes

Kim Hong-up, the second son of President Kim Dae-Jung and vice chief of the Peace Foundation for the Asia-Pacific Region, received 2.58 billion won from several local businesses in return for influence-peddling, plus 2.2 billion won of political funds from large conglomerates including Hyundai and Samsung.

It is also confirmed that former and incumbent heads of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) gave Hong-up a total of 35 million won in "pocket money" over several occasions.

Prosecutors revealed on the 10th the findings of their investigation into the corruption case involving Hong-up and indicted him on graft and tax evasion charges.

The amount of money, which is reported to be take by Hong-up, increased more than double from 2.28 billion won reported on June 21, when he was arrested.

An official in the prosecution said, "Prosecutors will continue their probe into allegations of irregularities, which have come up in the process of the investigation against Hong-up and his aides."

▽ Under the Pretext of Political Funds= Hong-up testified that he took 1.1 billion won in political funds from his relatives in the run up to the 1997 presidential election. Among the money, he used 500 million won as election fund. He was also found to have accepted a total of 600 million won from some 20 parliamentary candidates ahead of the general election in 1996.

The prosecution also found that Hong-up received 1.6 billon won over 13 occasions between Mar. 1998 and Feb. 2000 from Chung Ju-young, the late founder of Hyundai Group, 500 million won from the restructuring department of Samsung Group and 100 million won from Sambo Paper Co.

But the prosecution said that it was confirmed that Hong-up has received a total of 3.1 billion won from individuals and corporations since 1998 and used 1.7 billion won, but no evidence has been found that Hong-up actually exercised undue pressure. The prosecution added that it could not investigate the alleged bribe taking after 1996 because the statute of limitations had already run out.

¡°The 2.2 billion won are considered to be legitimate political funds, but the suspect hid one billion won in a storage room of his house for the purpose of evading taxes,’’ the prosecution said.

▽ Money from NIS Heads = Prosecutors confirmed that about 72 million won issued under the name of the NIS was deposited in Hong-up`s bank account.

The prosecution also confirmed that Lim Dong-won and Shin Kuhn, former and incumbent heads of the state intelligence agency gave Hong-up millions of won in the pretext of pocket money or "customary gifts" for national holidays

In a response, Lim said, "I don`t think it is appropriate to comment of what I did in the past."

▽ Investigation into the "Prosecution Gate"= Prosecutors asked the Justice Ministry to punish Kim Dae-woon, chief of the Gwangju High Public Prosecutors` Office, who has been suspected of divulging investigative information to Lee Soo-dong, former director of the Peace Foundation for the Asia-Pacific Region. The prosecution said, "Judging that Kim contacted political figure such as Lee and leaked investigative secrets thereby bringing disgrace on high-ranking public servants, the prosecution asked for additional punishment other than criminal punishment."