떡값은 가장 악명높은 선물” NYT 한국 부패스캔들 대서특필
2007년 11월 14일 14:55:25 【뉴욕=뉴시스】
한국의 부패문화는 아주 뿌리깊어서 흰 봉투에 현금을 넣은 선물은 성공을 위해 필수적
이다. 그중에서도 가장 악명높은 것은 ‘떡값(Rice Cake Expenses)’으로 명절에 정부
관리나 정치인들에게 돌리는 것들이다.’
뉴욕타임스가 삼성스캔들을 통해 한국의 부끄러운 부패문화를 제대로 건드렸다. 타임스
는 13일(현지시간) A섹션 3면 톱으로 ‘한국 관리들 광범위한 뇌물스캔들 연루’ 기사
를 싣고 일파만파로 커지고 있는 삼성스캔들과 수뢰 혐의를 받고 있는 전군표 국세청
장, 정윤재 전 청와대 의전 비서관, 변양균-신정아 스캔들, 심지어 BBK문제로 의혹을 받
는 이명박 후보까지 총체적으로 다뤘다.
이날 타임스의 기사는 ‘부패(Corruption)’를 시작으로 ‘정치상납(Kickback)’, ‘매
수자금(Slush Fund)’ ‘횡령(Embezzlement)’, ‘부정행위(Irregularities)’ ‘타락
(Taint)’ '돈 세탁(Money laundering)' 등 부패 관련 단어들이 총동원될만큼 심각한 한
국사회의 병폐를 까발렸다.
타임스는 김용철 전 삼성그룹 법무팀장의 비자금 의혹 폭로는 한국 정부와 기업의 뇌물
고리(Bribery Network)’가 얼마나 광범위하게 얽혀 있는지 말해주고 있으며 특히 반부
패를 내세운 노무현 정권의 도덕성에 치명타를 가했다고 말했다.
타임스는 김용철 변호사의 대리인 역할을 하고 있는 천주교 사제단이 12일 임채진 검찰
총장 내정자와 이종백 국가청렴위원회 위원장, 이귀남 대검중수부장 등 3인이 삼성으로
부터 정기적으로 뇌물을 받았다고 폭로했다고 전했다.
또한 삼성이 시내 모처에 비밀금고를 갖고 있으며 삼성의 임원들과 학연·지연으로 연결
된 검사들에게 뇌물을 제공했다고 밝혔지만 삼성은 “터무니없다”고 반박했다고 덧붙였
다.
타임스는 노무현 대통령이 기업인과 공무원의 부패고리를 척결하기 위해 싸웠지만 수많
은 부패 스캔들로 타격을 입었다면서 최근에는 전군표 국세청장과 정윤재 비서관의 수
뢰 의혹과 변양균-신정아 스캔들을 거명했다.
특히 대학교수직을 얻기 위해 가짜 예일대 학위 파문을 일으킨 신정아 사건으로 인해 전
국적인 위조 학력을 폭로하는 열풍이 일었다고 말했다.
경제개혁연대의 김상조 교수는 타임스와의 인터뷰에서 “삼성 스캔들은 한국의 거대기업
들이 아들에게 경영권을 물려주기 위해 매수자금을 이용하는 전형적인 사례”라고 밝혔
다.
한편 타임스는 대형부패 스캔들은 대선 시기에 터지는 경향이 있다면서 유력한 대선주자
인 한나라당 이명박 후보가 횡령과 돈세탁 혐의로 기소된 전 비즈니스 파트너의 한국 소
환 문제로 곤경에 처한 가운데 이회창 전 총재가 대선 출마를 선언, 보수층의 지지를 업
고 여론조사에서 단숨에 2위로 올라섰다고 소개했다.
원문 기사
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/world/asia/13korea.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Korean Officials Accused in Widening Bribery Scandal
By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: November 13, 2007
SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 12 — A widening corruption scandal at the Korean electronics giant Samsung engulfed the government of South Korea on Monday when President Roh Moo-hyun’s next chief prosecutor and his top anticorruption agent faced accusations of accepting bribes from the conglomerate.
The accusations by Samsung’s former chief lawyer, Kim Yong-chul, are a further blow to Mr. Roh, who in his final months in office has faced a raft of bribery scandals, some involving his top aides. The departing president had proudly proclaimed a less corrupt government as one of his major achievements.
Mr. Kim, who worked as Samsung’s chief in-house lawyer for seven years until 2004, has said in the past two weeks that Samsung runs a vast bribery network that encompasses the government, the judiciary and the news media, and that he even bribed prosecutors on behalf of Samsung and its chairman, Lee Kun-hee.
Until now Mr. Kim had not disclosed any of the recipients of the bribes, but at a news conference on Monday several Catholic priests who have been serving as spokesmen for Mr. Kim accused three individuals with oversight of corruption cases of accepting bribes: Lim Chae-jin, who was appointed prosecutor general last month by Mr. Roh; Lee Jong-baek, a former prosecutor whom Mr. Roh appointed in August to head the Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption; and Lee Gui-nam, director of the Central Investigation Bureau, which investigates corruption charges against politicians and big businesses.
“They should be taken as a symbol of a government agency tainted by bribery,” said the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice, an influential religious group. The priests said the three senior prosecutors received bribes regularly from Samsung.
On Monday, all three denied accepting bribes. “I have never received any cash gifts or requests for favor from Samsung,” Mr. Lim said, according to his spokesman, who added that Lee Gui-nam also denied taking bribes. In a statement, Lee Jong-baek demanded that the priests and Mr. Kim unveil any evidence against him, and he threatened to sue them.
Samsung issued a statement calling the accusations “malicious and unfounded.”
Cheon Ho-seon, President Roh’s spokesman, said his office could not immediately investigate the accusations, made a day before prosecutors vowed to investigate thoroughly. But the priests accused prosecutors of dragging their feet, afraid to disclose “their deep-rooted collusive links” with big businesses. On Monday, some of the candidates for the Dec. 19 presidential election called on Parliament to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the scandal.
Mr. Roh, who leaves office in February, has been widely credited with fighting corrupt ties between businessmen and public servants, and he has been struggling to bolster his legacy by reaching out to North Korea. He held the peninsula’s second inter-Korean summit meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, in early October, and the prime ministers of the two Koreas are to meet in Seoul on Wednesday.
But his efforts have been sidetracked by a spate of corruption scandals. Jeon Goon-pyo, head of the National Tax Service, was arrested last week on charges of taking $66,000 in bribes from one of his deputies, who was seeking a promotion. Mr. Jeon denied any wrongdoing but resigned.
Also last week, prosecutors indicted Jung Yun-jae, one of Mr. Roh’s closest confidants, who served as his protocol secretary, on charges of receiving bribes from a building contractor in return for helping him evade a tax investigation. A provincial tax official was arrested on charges of receiving kickbacks from the builder.
Last Tuesday, a court in Seoul opened the trial of Byeon Yang-kyoon, Mr. Roh’s top policy adviser, who was arrested last month on charges of using his influence to win favors for a woman said to be his girlfriend. The woman, Shin Jeong-ah, was also under arrest on charges of using a fake Yale University diploma to get jobs as a college professor and museum curator in Seoul. That scandal prompted a nationwide investigation into counterfeit academic credentials, which were found to be widespread.
Social critics have said that a culture of corruption is so deeply embedded in South Korea that many here have come to consider small cash gifts, usually contained in white envelopes, as an essential tool for success. The most infamous among those gifts are “rice cake expenses,” cash envelopes that businesses are accused of doling out to government officials or politicians on major holidays.
The term made headlines again in recent weeks as Mr. Kim, the former Samsung lawyer, claimed that he had doled out cash envelopes to scores of senior prosecutors, giving each the equivalent of $5,500 to $22,000, three times a year.
On Monday, Mr. Kim said through the priests that Samsung had a secret vault in its headquarters in downtown Seoul where a bribery list was kept and that Samsung executives were assigned to bribe prosecutors with whom they had school or hometown connections. Samsung called the claim “absurd.”
Kim Sang-jo, a university professor who leads Solidarity for Economic Reform, a civic group, said the Samsung scandal was a typical case of a big South Korean conglomerate raising slush funds to help the son of its chairman take over management control and then bribe law enforcement agencies in case the irregularities were investigated.
Major corruption scandals tend to erupt during election years. A former business partner of the leading presidential contender, Lee Myung-bak, of the conservative opposition Grand National Party, is being extradited from the United States to face charges of embezzlement and money laundering.
Mr. Lee has denied involvement. But the possibility of a damaged conservative front-runner prompted Lee Hoi-chang, who lost to Mr. Roh in 2002, to declare his candidacy last week. He has since surged to the No. 2 slot in polls, splitting conservative support with Mr. Lee.