Cho Seok-joon

By Yun Suh-young

The police are investigating Cho Seok-joon, president of the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), for allegedly favoring a company he used to work for in a bid to select a supplier for aviation weather observation equipment.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Wednesday searched and seized records from the Korea Meteorological Industry Promotion Agency (KMIPA) which is a purchasing agency of the products and another company identified as “K” which is a supply agency for weather observation LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging). Cho used to be the chief of the weather center at company “K” for two years before he became the KMA chief.

The KMIPA called for bids last August from suppliers of lidars that will be installed at Gimpo and Jeju Aiports. At the time, two companies applied but company “K” was finally selected as the supplier.

The police plan to trace Cho’s bank accounts for any illegal financial transactions. The police will summon Cho when the charges are confirmed.

Cho, however, is denying the allegations regarding his unfair selection of the supplier in the bid last year saying that the company which finally got selected was by coincidence.

“The KMIPA is responsible for the procedure related to buying equipment such as the selection and evaluation of the bidding companies,” said Cho.