Again at the heart of the ongoing scandal heading to the impeachment of the President are Korea’s family-owned conglomerates, called chaebol.
So far, these big firms have escaped accusations of wrongdoing by the prosecution, which tentatively concluded they were pressured to donate billions of won for two sports and culture foundations Park is suspected of having pushed for.
However, that is a tactical move by the prosecutors, who are trying to substantiate the allegation that Park had been actively engaged in influence peddling, and want to slap bribery charges on the head of state. On Sunday, the prosecutors named Park a “conspirator” in the indictments of her protege Choi Soon-sil and former aide An Chong-bum, on charges of corporate extortion, among others. But Park’s defense lawyer denounced it as groundless fiction because the prosecutors couldn’t even question Park, who avoided their questioning on a technicality.
Chaebol leaders in question include Lee Jae-yong, de facto leader of Samsung, which “donated” billions of won for the foundation and is suspected of wiring billions more to Choi for the purchase of a 1 billion won horse for her equestrian daughter; Shin Dong-bin, leader of Lotte who had fought a nasty fight to oust his father and gave billions in “donations” ahead of an impending probe into allegations of slush funds; and Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo, a significant donor, among others.
Their role will likely be revisited by the National Assembly’s investigation with heads of LG, SK, Hanhwa and other chaebol to be called in as witnesses. Also the independent counsel’s probe, now with Park’s consent, will likely focus on what transpired during Park’s one-on-one meetings with six top chaebol heads after an unannounced luncheon meeting with an expanded group of corporate heads last year. A total of 23 firms contributed nearly 80 billion won for the foundations.
Both probes will tackle whether Park tried to pressure chaebol to cough up contributions but in the process it appears inevitable that any cases of quid pro quo occurred between Park and chaebol heads.
Historically, chaebol play the role of victim, being forced to pay dues to those in power reluctantly and haplessly and the public buys their pleas of innocence. But the latest case should be the end of this old playbook story. Now, they have grown big enough for some of them to become global firms. They should start to learn how to act according to their size and bring transparency to global standards. If they can’t do this on their own, changes — their current ownership structure included — should be forced upon them.