Ruling Party’s Lawmaker Park Jin Vows to Appeal

By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

Rep. Park Jin of the ruling Grand National Party was convicted of bribery and fined three million won, a court ruled Thursday.

If the ruling is confirmed, the lawmaker, who was indicted on charges of receiving illegal political funding from tycoon Park Yeon-cha, thereby breaching the Political Donation Law, will lose his seat in the National Assembly.

Under the law, a lawmaker fined more than one million won for a violation is stripped off his or her position and banned from running for a parliamentary post for five years.

"All the charges against Park were found to be true," Judge Hong Seung-myun of the Seoul Central District Court said in the ruling. "Park, as a three-term lawmaker, committed a grave crime."

The lawmaker serves as chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee, which reviews bills regarding Korea's free trade agreements (FTA) with other countries.

He immediately appealed the verdict, calling it a "shameful" decision.

"I cannot accept the ruling," he said in a statement. "It was proven that the tycoon's testimony was groundless. I cannot understand how the court could make such a ruling. I will continue to fight to recover my honor."

In June, he was indicted on charges of receiving $20,000 from Park, former CEO of Busan-based shoemaker Taekwang, in March of last year. He was charged with receiving an additional 10 million won from Park through a borrowed-name account. The legislator denied the allegations.

Park first became involved in politics in 1993 as a translator for then-President Kim Young-sam. The 53-year-old Park is well known for his advocacy of the Korea-U.S. FTA and his close political relationship with President Lee Myung-bak.

The legislator is one of many incumbent politicians accused in connection to a large-scale graft scandal uncovered by an investigation into the shoe company owner, who is now behind bars.

The prosecution's investigation into alleged beneficiaries ㅡ many of whom were aides to liberal President Roh Moo-hyun ㅡ was viewed by liberal media outlets and activists as the President Lee Myung-bak administration's political vendetta against its political opponents.

But the investigation met an unexpected deadlock following the suicide of former President Roh Moo-hyun in May. Roh, suspected of receiving $630,000 from the businessman, jumped to his death from a cliff behind his residence in Bonghwa, South Gyeongsang Province.

pss@koreatimes.co.kr