By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Is it that hard to keep Presidents' family members away from corruption?
Former President Roh Moo-hyun's elder brother, Roh Geon-pyeong, 66, was arrested Thursday for taking three billion won ($3.2 million) in bribes in exchange for influence peddling in the controversial sale of Sejong Securities to Nonghyup in 2006 when his brother was President.
The former President had activated a special intelligence team during his presidency to thoroughly monitor his nearly 1,000 relatives and friends, an attempt to keep his family from being involved in attractive under-the-table deals.
With this scandal, however, Roh's efforts failed and the former head of state himself was also dishonored.
Unfortunately, this is not a case confined to Roh but an ``inevitable'' heritage that has prevailed over the past two decades.
In March 1988, Chun Kyung-hwan, a younger brother of former President Chun Doo-hwan, was arrested for embezzling 7.6 billion won while serving as head of a state-funded organization established to lead the New Community Movement, a nationwide campaign initiated to modernize rural communities launched by former President Park Chung-hee.
President Chun's elder brother, Chun Ki-hwan, was also put behind bars the same year for his involvement in an illegal takeover attempt of Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market in Seoul ㅡ one of the nation's largest fish markets.
Two of Chun's cousins and a brother-in-law were also punished on charges of tax evasion and embezzlement.
Chun's successor, Roh Tae-woo, during his 1988-1992 presidency, was no exception.
His daughter, Roh So-young, and her spouse Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, were questioned in 1994 on suspicion of illegally taking $192,000 out of the country. They were not arrested.
Family members of President Kim Young-sam, who took office in 1993, were also involved in a variety of corruption scandals.
His son, Hyun-cheol, called the ``Little President,'' was found guilty in 1997 on charges of receiving 6.6 billion won in bribes from six businessmen and evading 1.2 billion won in taxes. He was arrested again in 2004 for receiving two billion won in illegal political funds ahead of general elections from a tycoon.
The vicious cycle continued with liberal President Kim Dae-jung, the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate from South Korea, in 2000.
Of Kim's three children, two were convicted. The former President's second son, Hong-up, a former lawmaker, was found guilty of receiving a total of 4.5 billion won in bribes from businessmen in exchange for granting them favors in 2003. His third child, Hong-gul, received a jail sentence in 2003 on charges of taking 3.7 billion won in kickbacks and evading 220 million won in taxes.
President Lee Myung-bak, who took office in February, has pledged to make every effort to keep his family away from corruption scandals. In December last year, President Lee, then a presidential candidate for the Grand National Party, said, ``If I'm elected, I will call in all my family members to educate them on how to avoid being involved in such scandals.''
But in October, Kim Ok-hee, 74, a cousin of the first lady, was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of receiving billions of won in exchange for helping the chairman of a bus operators' association get a place on the ruling Grand National Party's proportional representation ticket for the National Assembly.
Prior to the scandal, Cheong Wa Dae had three special teams to monitor family members. But it raised the number to seven following the scandal.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, the number of those subject to surveillance is around 1,000. Of them, about 100 deemed easily exposed to corruption were selected to be placed under intensive scrutiny, the Presidential Office said, adding this is carried out in cooperation with police, prosecution, the Board of Audit and Inspection, and the National Intelligence Service.
``A series of corruption scandals in which presidents' families are involved prove that Korean politics is still murky,'' said Prof. Park Chun-oh at Myongji University's department of public administration. ``This will persist unless people act ethically and stop trying to obtain favors capitalizing on those close to the presidency.''