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Ambassador Im Borrowed Money From Kim Chun-ho

Posted July. 08, 2004 22:11,   

한국어

Im Hong-jae, the ambassador to Iraq, was found on Thursday to have borrowed $15,000 from Kim Chun-ho, president of Gana General Trading Co., and repaid the money on June 29, right before Kim’s return to Korea.

Jeon Yun-chul, head of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), attended a Legislation and Judiciary Committee meeting on Thursday and positively confirmed an inquiry into the ambassador’s borrowing $15,000 from Kim raised by Rep. Choi Jae-cheon of the Uri Party.

Jeon continued, “The investigation team has conducted thorough examinations including the pending matter, and the matter will be clarified when the team returns to Seoul on July 9.”

Rep. Choi mentioned to reporters during an intermission that “the security situation in Iraq has worsened to a point where people cannot withdraw money from banks. Therefore, it is likely that the ambassador borrowed the money from Kim accordingly.”

Concerning the matter, a high-ranking officer at the BAI commented, “The embassy argued that the money was for building up a container barracks, intended to be used for consul activities. Nonetheless, the BAI considered borrowing money from a private citizen as improper.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade explained regarding the matter, saying, “It was a consul, in charge of administrative affairs, who borrowed the money from Kim. Ambassador Im, who was on a business trip to Jordan at that time, had been notified of the matter on June 13 from the consul afterwards.”

Meanwhile, the BAI continued its interrogation of Kim Chun-ho on Thursday regarding his knowledge of the time of Kim Sun-il’s abduction and the money transaction with Ambassador Im.



Young-Hae Choi Myoung-Gun Lee yhchoi65@donga.com gun43@donga.com