Three pro-government presidential candidates agreed Tuesday to submit a motion to appoint an independent counsel to probe alleged bribery and other wrongdoing involving the Samsung Group as suspicions arise that the prosecutor-general-designate took a bribe from the country's biggest conglomerate.
A former lawyer for Samsung has claimed that the conglomerate operates secret bank accounts to routinely bribe the judiciary, politicians, government officials and the media, and that he himself was part of the illicit connection.
Samsung has denied the allegations, but suspicions emerged on Monday that even the prosecutor general-designate, Lim Chai-jin, was bribed.
The lawyer, Kim Yong-chul, was the head of the legal affairs department of the Samsung Group from 1997 until 2004.
The Samsung scandal became a catalyst for the three liberal underdogs, Chung Dong-young of the pro-government United New Democratic Party, Kwon Young-ghill of the Democratic Labor Party and Moon Kook-hyun of the Create Korea Party, to join forces against conservative heavyweights who have demonstrated pro big business sentiments.
The alliance of the three leaders will likely lead to a parliamentary approval of the motion next week as combined they control 150 seats, a majority in the 299-member National Assembly.
"The Samsung slush fund scandal is an unavoidable passage of pain that Korean society needs to go through on its way to becoming a transparent society," said Chung, who leads the pack of
underdog liberals in the polls.
Kwon, the progressive labor party leader, said the Samsung case puts the nation in an "emergency situation," while Moon called for more political action to investigate the scandal that allegedly involves prosecutors.
The pro-government UNDP party has 140 seats, while the other two have nine and one respectively.
The main opposition Grand National Party, with 129 seats, meanwhile, demanded a separate probe of President Roh Moo-hyun, alleging Samsung had provided secret funds for him before and after his election in late 2002.