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| Kim Byong-joon, new chief of the conservative main opposition Liberty Korea Party, speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly, Wednesday. Kim is known to be under police investigation for allegedly violating the anti-graft law by being invited as a professor at Kookmin University to a golf tournament worth over one million won last year. / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han |
By Park Ji-won
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP)'s interim leader Kim Byong-joon is being investigated for possible violation of the anti-graft law, according to police, Wednesday.
The allegation came only one day after Kim assumed the position, Tuesday, vowing to reform the troubled conservative party.
Police said Kim was invited to play golf without paying the 1.18 million won in green fees by Ham Seung-hee, then-CEO of state-owned casino Kangwon Land last year when he was an honorary professor at Kookmin University. He played golf at the High One Resort near the casino.
The anti-graft law states that public officials who receive over one million won in cash and valuables for any purpose are subject to a prison term of up to three years or a 30 million won fine.
Kim, however, refuted the allegation, saying it is difficult to consider the golf event "entertainment."
"I was invited to the Pro-Am golf event and did not know the specifics about how much it costs," said Kim.
"I didn't know whether the costs exceeded the limits stipulated in the anti-corruption law as it was just an ordinary invitation."
LKP floor leader Kim Sung-tae defended Kim saying, "The fact that the report was released yesterday, on the same day we elected the chairman of the emergency reform task force who came to resolve the party's system and crisis, is suspicious."
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