By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The presidential office plans to launch a drive to fight corruption and bribery in local councils, sources said Sunday.
The move comes after an alleged bribery case involving Seoul Metropolitan Council Chairman Kim Gui-hwan rocked the local council.
Sources said senior presidential secretaries took the case very seriously during a meeting and agreed to look into ways of rooting out corruption cases involving council members.
They, however, did not explain the details of the meeting results.
Prosecutors said Kim, who belongs to the governing Grand National Party (GNP), offered millions of won in cash to 28 GNP council members in April, asking them to vote for him in the election to select the council chairman in June.
Kim was arrested, and 28 council members were indicted for taking bribes without physical detention.
If the court rules that the GNP local representatives should pay a fine of 1 million won or more, they are to lose the elective offices.
If this happens, by-elections are to take place to replace them.
Ruling and opposition parties welcomed the investigation results.
The GNP said local representatives shouldn't consider the elective posts as a privilege that permits them to do what ordinary citizens cannot.
Kim Yoo-jung, spokeswoman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), called for a zero-tolerance policy in bribe scandals.
``DP members have worked out a set of measures to reform the system of local councils so as to prevent the possible recurrence of bribery scandals in the future,'' Kim said.
In a separate move, five DP council members filed with the authorities complaints against Chairman Kim, requesting prosecutors nullify the election of the council chairman. They claimed Kim bought votes and it affected the election results.
Rep. Park Sun-young, spokeswoman of the minor Liberty Forward Party, urged prosecutors to conduct a thorough investigation into the case, saying such scandals shouldn't recur in the future.
The Democratic Labor Party said the GNP's sweeping wins in the 2006 local elections contributed to an increasing number of bribery scandals.
The labor party said now is the time to activate the recall of elected representatives.