[Editorial] Is This Roh Camp’s Morality?

In a report announced by the prosecution concluding its investigation into President Roh’s close aides, the major details of the enormous slush funds were included, which the Roh camp received both before and after the election last year. The slush funds that president Roh’s close aides received from the time of his unifying candidacy to winning the election reached a total of over six billion won including illegal election funds, congratulatory funds and free loans. Also, the circumstances of President Roh`s direct or indirect involvement with his confidant`s corruption and the possible report of his actions by his aides was discovered. Now President Roh can’t avoid critical damage to his ethics.

On the tax reduction report of Sun & Moon Group written by the National Tax Service, the character “Roh” was written on the top of it. This even raises doubts over the identity of the so-called “invisible hands,” that managed to reduce 17 billion in taxes to 2.3 billion won. The amount of election funds offered to Roh’s camp reported by Sun & Moon Group does not match with the amounts that the opposition party asserted. The Constitution stipulates that the president does not become the subject of legal action except as regards crimes of internal and foreign troubles, however, it is not impossible to keep his promise of being investigated on the election fundraising issue since the president himself declared that he would be willingly investigated after the special prosecution launched an investigation into illegal election fundraising.

After Roh succeeded in unifying the presidential election candidacy, he attended a meeting with Moon Byung-wook, chairman of Sun & Moon Group, in late November and early December 2002 and left the meeting place right before chairman Moon offered 100 million won and 30 million won each to Roh’s confidants. The prosecution didn’t make clear Roh’s recognition of receipt of the illegal slush funds, but President Roh would be hard pressed to avoid his ethical responsibility considering that chairman Moon offered the money to earn Roh’s credit. The prosecution did not involve Lee Ki-myung on the investigation list because he just lent his title to Kang Keum-won, in the process loaning 1.7 billion free of charge for the debt reimbursement of Changsuschon, but it is doubtful whether the special counsel’s investigation would follow the decision of prosecutors. President Roh exceptionally filed a lawsuit against a media company insisting the media reported groundless news related to Changsuchon, but the evidence has come out and people are curious as to how the president would cope with this matter.

The reason that three opposition parties agreed to pass the special counsel’s investigation bill came from the recognition that the prosecution would inevitably show some limitation in investigating the president’s aides and their personnel manager, President Roh. Actually the investigation into president’s aides started to become active after the special counsel’s investigation bill was passed for the second time. The special counsel’s investigation, which will be available until April right before the national election, should seek out the reason of unscrupulous investigation of the prosecution if the prosecution shows unreliability. It now matters about the reigns of the government.