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 Ys 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.