South Korean scandals

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This is a list of major political scandals in South Korea:

Contents

[edit] International Scandals

[edit] 1970s

  • Koreagate - an American political scandal in 1976 involving South Koreans seeking influence with members of Congress.

[edit] 1980s

  • Gwangju massacre - May 1980 - after the Coup d'état of December Twelfth (1979) in Seoul, then-General Chun Doo-hwan ordered the armed suppression of a student-turned-general population mass demonstration of 300,000 citizens of Gwangju, South Cholla Province. Although the official investigation by the civilian government in the 1990s found the number of civilians confirmed dead to be 207, a number of domestic and international studies have suggested that up to one to two thousand had died. There have been those who argue that the United States was complicit in the massacre.

[edit] 1990s

  • Robert C. Kim - a civilian computer expert working for U.S. Naval intelligence charged with passing classified documents to his native South Korea.

[edit] 2000s

  • Cash-for-summit scandal - Although the historic North-South summit between the two Koreas was held in June 2000, the scandal broke in 2003 when it was revealed that the Kim Dae Jung Administration secretly sent millions of dollars to North Korea to secure the landmark summit with Hyundai Asan as the conduit.

[edit] National Scandals

[edit] 1970s

  • Tsche Chong-kil - It was confirmed in 2002 by the Presidential Truth Commission on Suspicious Deaths that Seoul National University law professor Tsche Chong Kil was taken to the Korean Central Intelligence Agency and thrown off a fire exit after investigators mistook him for dead when he lost consciousness while being tortured. The original official announcement had been that Tsche had confessed to being a North Korean spy and jumped to his death.

[edit] 1990s

  • Seongsu Bridge collapse (성수대교 붕괴사고) - on October 21, 1994, the Seongsu Bridge collapsed killing 32 people and injuring 17 others. The structural collapse was due to one of the concrete slabs failing, mainly because the bridge was not welded properly.
  • Sampoong Department Store collapse (삼풍백화점 붕괴사고) - on June 29, 1995, the Sampoong Department Store (Seocho-gu, Seoul) collapsed killing 501 people and injuring 937 more. It was revealed that corners were cut on building materials, building codes were disregarded, bribes were given to city inspectors, and early warning signs of imminent collapse (including on the day of collapse) were ignored. Those jailed included Lee Joon (the building owner), his son (the store's president), several city officials, Sampoong Department Store executives, and the building company responsible for completing the building.
  • Slush Fund Scandal - In October 1995, it was disclosed that former President Roh Tae Woo had collected political donations amounting to ₩500 billion (around $650 million) from businesses as contributions to his (secret) governing fund while holding public office between 1988 and 1993. Five heads of chaebol, among them the chairmen of Daewoo and Samsung, received two-and-a-half-year suspended sentences for paying bribes to Roh (and his predecessor Chun Doo Hwan) during the presidential term in exchange for favors.
  • Hanbogate - January 1997 - Hanbo Steel collapsed under a debt of nearly $6 billion (borrowed with assets of barely more than $100 million), and implicated in the loans-for-kickbacks scandal included Hanbo founder Chung Tae Su, former president Kim Young Sam, his second son Kim Hyun Chol, and several administration officials.
  • Miss Oh's Sex Videotape Scandal - April 1999 - popular beauty queen-turned-actress Oh Hyun-kyung went into hiding after a video of her having sex with her boyfriend started circulating on the internet.
  • Furgate - May 1999 - scandal that involved the wife of the ex-chief prosecutor, Kim Tae Jung, who had accepted a fur coat and other items from an expensive boutique. The clothes were allegedly paid for by the wife of Shindongah Group head, Choi Soon-Young, under investigation for fraud.
  • Daewoo scandal - The Daewoo group collapsed in August 1999 under $80 billion of debt, leaving local banks with huge unpaid debts. Implicated were Daewoo founder Kim Woo Choong and many of his top executives.

[edit] 2000s

  • "Lee Yong-ho Gate" - Lee Yong-ho gave Lee Su-dong, former director of the Kim Dae Jung Peace Foundation, ₩50 million as an expression of his thanks for trying to have the Financial Supervisory Service stop its investigation into stock price manipulation charges regarding one of Lee Yong-ho's companies. The scandal claimed three high-ranking prosecution officials, and a special prosecutor was named for the third time since the independent counsel system was adopted.
  • "Jin Seung-hyun affair" - Businessman Jin Seung-hyun gave the National Intelligence Service (NIS) money to be used to keep secret the fact that Kim Dae Jung had a daughter from an extramarital affair with his secretary in 1970.
  • Chung Hyun-joon - entrepreneur Chung Hyun-joon was alleged to have paid bribes to Chang Rae-chan, a former top official with the government's regulatory body, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), following large losses on the stock market. In return, Chang kept quiet about illegal loans that Chung had received, amounting to an estimated ₩63.7 billion ($US58 million) from three mutual savings and finance companies in which Chung was the major shareholder.
  • "Suzy Kim murder" - it was revealed that the NIS covered up the fact that entrepreneur Yoon Tae-shik strangled his wife Kim Ok Boon (also known by her bar hostess name Suzy Kim) in Hong Kong in 1987.
  • Baek Ji Young scandal - November 19 - Korean singer Baek Ji Young burst onto the Korean pop charts in 1999 but was soon defamed and blacklisted after a raunchy videotape of Baek in a bedroom romp with her former manager surfaced on the internet.
  • Kim Hong-gul and Kim Hong-up - sons of former President Kim Dae Jung, found guilty of accepting bribes for influence peddling
  • X-file scandal - revolves around the release of wiretapped conversations to the media.
  • Hong Seok-hyun - former ambassador to the United States, from December 2004 until his resignation on July 26, 2005 due to revelations that he was involved in a 1997 scheme by Samsung to bribe various politicians including Grand National Party leader Lee Hoi-chang, by providing financial support to them in the 1997 South Korean presidential election.
  • Shin Jeong-ah diploma forgery scandal - It was disclosed in July 2007 that Shin Jeong-Ah, the newly appointed director of the 2008 Gwangju Biennale and Dongguk University assistant professor of art, had falsified her educational credentials. This led to a cascading effect in South Korea of the outing of other academians and famous people who had also falsified their educational credentials.

[edit] Local Scandals

[edit] 2000s

  • Sogang University’s admissions scandal - Sogang University chancellor Ryu Jang-son and 17 faculty members resign over an entrance exam scandal involving a former admissions dean.

[edit] See also