Lockheed denies link to Choi Soon-sil
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Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson
By Jun Ji-hye
U.S. defense corporation Lockheed Martin has denied allegations it has been helped by the scandal-ridden confidant of President Park Geun-hye, Choi Soon-sil, in receiving business favors from the Park government.
In a statement sent to The Korea Times, Tuesday, the company said recent reports claiming Lockheed has had engagements with Choi or Linda Kim with regards to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) or F-35 fighter jets were “false.”
Linda Kim was an influential arms lobbyist until the early 2000s, and is suspected of being a friend of Choi.
“Lockheed Martin would like to clarify that our Chairman, President and CEO Ms. Marillyn Hewson has never visited Korea and has never met with Choi Soon-sil,” the statement said. “We also refute the allegations that Lockheed Martin paid for a go-between to stay in the United States six years ago.”
The statement came after Rep. An Min-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea recently raised suspicions that Choi may have intervened in the government decision, made in July, to deploy a U.S. THAAD battery here.
Noting that he received a credible tipoff, An claimed Choi met with Lockheed’s president in June, and the person who introduced the two was a South Korean “big shot” in diplomatic and defense circles. The lawmaker said while the go-between stayed in the United States for two years six years ago, Lockheed paid for this.
He also said any alleged wealth Choi might have accumulated would be nothing compared with the “commission” she may have received from the government’s decision to deploy THAAD.
The U.S. company stressed the THAAD deployment was a “government decision.”
An also alleged the defense firm would have benefited when it won a 7.3 trillion won deal in September 2014 to sell 40 F-35 fighter jets to Seoul instead of Boeing’s F15 Silent Eagle.
The company said, “Lockheed Martin highly values its longstanding relationship with the Republic of Korea and its Korean industrial partners and remains committed to bringing the KF-X, T-X and other major programs to successful conclusions.”
Seoul started the KF-X project to develop indigenous fighter jets to replace the Air Force’s aging fleet of F-4s and F-5s, and Lockheed vowed to transfer some of its technologies related to the F-35 in return for Seoul’s purchase of the jets.