Cash-for-votes scandal hits ruling party

Lawmaker reveals he refused W3 mil. over leadership election

By Lee Tae-hoon

The governing Grand National Party (GNP) Thursday requested a prosecution investigation into a cash-for-votes scandal involving a former party leader.

The move came as the party is desperate to preempt possible fallout from the case which will likely bring, unless curbed, a far-flung negative impact upon the governing party, especially ahead of the National Assembly elections in April.

It follows GNP lawmaker Koh Seung-duk’s revelation that he got the cold-shoulder for refusing to take 3 million won ($2,600) a few years ago from a candidate prior to the ruling party’s National Convention to pick a new leader.

“The GNP asked prosecutors to investigate the case today as what Rep. Ko described to the media can be viewed as the crime of buying votes in accordance with Article 50 of the Political Party Law,” GNP spokesman Hwang Young-cheol said.

“The measure was aimed at revamping the distorted political culture.”

Under the law, anyone involved in bribery or found to have received illicit favors at a national convention may face a prison term of up to three years or a maximum fine of 6 million won.

Ko said he will fully cooperate with the investigation and provide all necessary information about the case to prosecutors.

In a twitter message, the first-term lawmaker said little attention was paid to his revelation when he first exposed the incident on Dec. 14 in a column that he contributed to the Seoul Economic Daily, a sister paper of The Korea Times.

“What I wrote in the Seoul Economic Daily a month ago is belatedly becoming a hot potato,” he said. He implied that the new interim leadership led by Rep. Park Geun-hye is more proactive in seeking to bring changes to the embattled GNP.

Park took the helm of an emergency council on Dec. 27 after former GNP Chairman Hong Joon-pyo stepped down to take responsibility for his failure to revive the struggling party and push for reform.

“I voted for him as I was backing him anyway,” he wrote in the column. “But the candidate is still giving me the cold shoulder. I didn’t know it was such a big mistake to return the money without explicitly stating my support.”

Ko claimed that he did not intend to bring down a certain politician through the revelation because he suspects many of both the ruling and opposition party lawmakers are also not free from corruption.

He did not identify who allegedly bribed electoral college members, but said he turned down an envelope containing 3 million won from a pro-Lee Myung-bak lawmaker who won the party’s leadership contest between 2008 and 2010.

“I cannot say who offered the bribe at the moment, but I can assure you that it was not a clean race,” he said.

Only Rep. Park Hee-tae, who now serves as Assembly Speaker, and Rep. Ahn Sang-soo are pro-Lee lawmakers who won the party’s leadership contest during the three-year period.