Lawmaker Protests Retaliatory Investigation

Democratic Party's lawmaker Park Jie-won, who played a pivotal role in brining down the presidential nominee for the Prosecutor's General post, is allegedly being investigated by prosecutors, Hankyoreh reported Saturday.

In a meeting of lawmakers at the National Assembly on Friday, Rep. Park said, "Prosecutors and National Intelligence Service agents have started investigation on people around me. They want to find out the whistle blower who tipped me."

Chun Sung-gwan, President Lee Myung-bak's nominee for prosecutor general, withdrew his nomination, after members of the opposition parties raised issues of morality and ethics over his dubious wealth management.

Chun reportedly borrowed 1.55 billion won from a businessman known as Park without confirmation documents regarding the deal when he purchased a luxury house in southern Seoul last April.

The former nominee and his wife were also accused of taking a golf trip with Park and his wife, and going on a high-end shopping spree.

A hundred million won was transferred to his bank account from an unknown sender in 2007, which also led to questions about his qualifications as the top prosecutor.

Chun denied these allegations. But at the nominee's hearing, Rep. Park played a critical role by presenting documents, including tax records and travel records of Chun, that discredited his claim for innocence.

Prosecutors believe some of the documents, used by Park, came from a government employee at the Korea Customs Service and have reportedly begun internal investigation.

"Prosecution and the National Intelligence Service should stop this act of disrupting a lawmaker's activates. Doing so is unthinkable in a democratic country," said Rep. Park.