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Several “Golf Outings” in Busan

Posted March. 09, 2006 03:00,   

한국어

Owner Y of Y Company, who joined the golf outing on Independence Movement Day, reportedly has been friends with Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan since Lee was a lawmaker of the opposition party.

Furthermore, Kim Pyeong-soo, chairman of the Korea Teachers Credit Union (KTCU), reportedly bought a large number of Y Company shares and became acquainted with Y through playing golf together.

An entrepreneur in Busan said yesterday, “I heard that Y has known Prime Minister Lee since around 1997 and once donated promotion funds to him.”

Lee Ki-woo, vice minister of Education and Human Resources Development and who also was at the golf outing, said in a press conference on March 7, “I heard Y has been a sponsor of the prime minister for a long time.”

Prime Minister Lee, who also is a lawmaker, even received four million won as promotion funds from Y‘s eldest son on April 6, 2004, shortly before the 2004 general election.

Pusannews, a local newspaper in Busan, published a report yesterday stating that “the scene of Kim Pyeong-soo and Vice Minister Lee playing golf with Y, who is involved in a golf outing with the prime minister, was caught during the time when KTCU bought stocks from Y Company between last October and December.”

KTCU bought 320,000 Y Company shares between last October to December after it had bought 1.56 million shares between May and September of the same year. Y served a jail sentence on charges of manipulation, and Y Company was fined an enormous sum for price collusion from the Korean Fair Trade Commission.

On this issue, Vice Minister Lee admitted playing golf, saying, “I have been friends with Chairman Kim (since serving in the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development). So I have played golf two or three times with friends, including Y.”

Vice Minister Lee said he met Y and Kim through an introduction from others and added, “I knew Y, but I actually met him face-to-face after I was the senior secretary for the office of premier (in July 2004). I met Y and Kim through other people.”



Jung-Hun Kim In-Chul Lee jnghn@donga.com inchul@donga.com