Given 200 million won from Large Corporations in 2000 General Election

It was confirmed that ahead of the April 13 parliamentary election in 2000, the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) offered hundreds of millions of won to MDP candidates who ran for the National Assembly in the party’s strategic electoral districts behind the scenes and in addition to the party’s official financial support.

In an interview with the Donga Ilbo, Park Bum-jin, a former lawmaker, who ran on the MDP ticket in Yangcheon A, Seoul, in the 2000 general election, testified that right after the start of the official campaign, in early April 2000, an executive of a conglomerate visited the district party chapter and gave him a suitcase filled with cash worth 100 million won.

The former lawmaker said that a few days later, another large corporation executive offered him 100 million won in the same way.

According to Park’s explanation, he could understand that the party was supporting systematically through large corporations, because a senior party member had earlier tipped him off.

Park said that he was given an additional 150 million won on two occasions from the party. He spent some 900 million won during the campaign, because he also received huge amounts of money, 20 - 30 million won at a time, from his political supporters, including schoolmates.

Park also said that when he ran for the National Assembly as a candidate from the ruling New Korea Party (now Grand National Party) in the April 11 general election in 1996, he received 300 million won by check from party secretary general Kang Sam-jae and 200 million won in cash from a senior official of Daewoo Group.

Sung-Won Park swpark@donga.com