Independence fighters' association chief to quit after corruption reports
Kim Won-wung, chief of the Heritage of Korean Independence / Korea Times file
The head of a state-funded association of national independence fighters and their descendants offered to step down Wednesday amid growing calls for his resignation over embezzlement allegations.
The departure of Kim Won-wung, chief of the Heritage of Korean Independence (HKI) who has long faced political and ideology-linked controversies over whether he is suitable for the job, comes less than a week after the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs released an audit outcome accusing him of misappropriating part of the profits from an HKI cafe run at the National Assembly.
"I bow my head and apologize for having hurt the pride of the (HKI) members and done the HKI a disservice," Kim said in a statement sent to Yonhap News Agency. "Such a mishap has occurred as I was not capable of managing personnel and failed to properly supervise (the cafe)."
His remarks appear to be a repeat of his earlier claims that embezzlement allegations were trumped up by a former HKI employee who himself had faced corruption suspicion within the association.
In its audit findings disclosed last Thursday, the patriots ministry said a slush fund valued at 61 million won (US$50,960) had been created from the cafe's proceeds, and about 10 million won of the fund was wired to Kim's personal account. The cafe was set up in 2020 to fund scholarships for descendants of national independence fighters.
Kim has called the findings a "unilateral claim" and "defamation."
On Friday, the association is set to convene an extraordinary plenary session expected to discuss whether to retain him as its chief.
Kim, a former three-term lawmaker, assumed the position in June 2019. (Yonhap)