Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Residence of Park's aide raided
By Kim Rahn
Prosecutors raided the home and office of former Saenuri Party lawmaker Hong Sa-duck, Thursday, as part of their investigation into his alleged acceptance of illegal political funds from a businessman.
The former six-term lawmaker will also be summoned for questioning soon.
Some 20 investigators searched for evidence at the places belonging to the 69-year-old who was a key member of the primary campaign team for the ruling party’s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye.
The raid comes two days after he left the party to minimize the fallout of the allegations ahead of the presidential election in December.
The investigators also raided the office of the businessman, surnamed Jin, who is the head of a company based in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province.
Hong allegedly took 60 million won ($53,400) from Jin _ 50 million won in March, and 5 million won each around last year’s Chuseok and this year’s Seollal.
Jin’s driver, identified as Ko, reported this to the National Election Commission, which then asked the prosecution to investigate the allegations.
Ko testified Jin put 50 million won in a carton of cigarettes and had Ko hand it over to a female aide to Hong. He also said he put 5 million won in a box of Korean beef and had the box delivered to Hong’s home through couriers for the two holidays. The driver submitted photos of the cigarette carton and the beef box to the commission.
Prosecutors are tracing the money flow in bank accounts belonging to Jin and his company to see whether the businessman withdrew a large sum of money around the stated times. They are also looking into phone records and emails of Hong, Jin and other related figures.
The prosecution will summon Jin and Hong soon. They have already been banned from leaving the country.
In the meantime, prosecutors raided the homes and offices of Rep. Choi Dong-ic of the opposition Democratic United Party and the party’s former lawmaker Jang Hyang-sook for allegations that the former offered 70 million won to the latter in return for helping him get nominated on the party’s ticket in the April National Assembly elections.
Choi was selected as a proportional representative.