President Roh Moo-hyun |
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun has ordered the Cabinet to study measures to return a scholarship foundation to the original owner, which was forcibly taken by the late President Park Chung-hee and later headed by his daughter Park Geun-hye, the former chairwoman of the Grand National Party (GNP), Roh's aides said.
``The Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended the Buil Scholarship Foundation (which later became the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation) should be returned to the original owner,'' Roh was quoted as saying during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday by his spokesman Cheon Ho-sun. ``The government now should find legal ways to implement that recommendation.''
The commission, an independent fact-finding state agency to investigate human rights abuses from the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule to the present, concluded late last month that the now-defunct Korean Central Intelligence Agency pressed the Buil Foundation owned by a businessman to give control of it to the government in 1962 under the Park administration.
Former GNP Chief Park Geun-hye |
The foundation was renamed the Jeongsu Foundation in 1982 and Park Geun-hye, now a leading presidential contender of the main opposition GNP, headed it from 1994 to 2005.
``Many commissions are entitled to place recommendations regarding past history,'' Roh said. ``I' want the Office of the Prime Minister to examine what recommendations were made by the commissions and what measures should be taken according to the recommendations.''
Roh also asked the Justice Ministry to undertake a legal investigation into how to properly implement those recommendations, because they involve complicated issues such as lawsuits by the government.
Under the Roh administration, various independent state commissions were set up to look at specific areas but their role was only to make recommendations and they had no legal standing.
Meanwhile, Park Geun-hye said Roh was engaged in political maneuvering to deal yet another blow to her, as she is one of the most viable presidential hopefuls in the December election.
``The Buil Foundation has already been donated to society, and former Chairwoman Park has nothing to do with it,'' Park's spokesman Lee Jeong-hyun said. ``President Roh virtually gave up his duties and missions and has apparently begun campaigning for the presidential election.''
yoonwonsup@koreatimes.co.kr
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