hankyoreh

The Mir Foundation and K-Sports Foundation are undeniably reminiscent of the Ilhae Foundation during the presidency of Chun Doo-hwan (1980-88). They are eerily similar in regard to how rapidly their establishment was approved by the government and how various companies have made large donations to these foundations against their will.

The establishment of the two foundations - which has been riddled by irregularities from start to finished - would have been inconceivable without the powerful backing of the Blue House. The most troubling aspect is that the names of some of President Park Geun-hye’s closest aides - including Choi Sun-sil, who is rumored to be an unofficial power broker in the current administration, and An Chong-bum, Senior Secretary to the President for Policy Coordination (and Senior Secretary to the President for Economic Affairs at the time) - are front and center in the scandal.

A critical fact has come to light that explains the relationship between the two foundations and the Blue House. That is the fact that special inspector general Lee Seok-su carried out an internal investigation of An Chong-bum in July in regard to corruption in the process of setting up the Mir Foundation and K-Sports Foundation. After receiving a tip that An had put pressure on the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) and on various companies to donate to the foundations, Lee investigated how and why the companies in question had made their donations.

The details of this investigation are even more suggestive. When people at the companies in question were asked why they had contributed large sums of money to the foundations, Lee said, they were unable to respond and only looked at the mountains in the distance. This suggests that purportedly voluntary donations were actually part of a compulsory fundraising campaign.

These facts also explain why the Blue House has expressed so much antipathy to Lee. The Blue House flew into a fury over the fact that Lee spoke on the phone with reporters during his investigation of Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs Woo Byung-woo and denounced this as “a constitutional crisis.”

This display of emotion seemed over the top given the incident in question, but now we know the reason. Lee’s investigation into the way these two foundations had been established apparently triggered Park’s “royal wrath.” If Lee’s investigation had not halted when he resigned in connection with charges that he had leaked confidential information related to the investigation, detailed allegations may have been raised about the Blue House‘s involvement.

Allegations are multiplying in connection with Choi Sun-sil, too. It has come to light that the director of a sports massage center that Choi frequents is the chairman of the board of the K-Sports Foundation and that the person who designed the hanbok (traditional Korean attire) for Park’s inaugural ceremony at Choi‘s request is a member of the board of the Mir Foundation. Even though the two foundations had not been around for long, they accompanied Park on her overseas tour in May and June and even held events in the countries she visited, which could not have happened unless they received special patronage from the Blue House.

Will the Blue House continue to claim that it is not worth even mentioning this scandal, despite these circumstances? The Blue House does not have the right to remain silent and ignore the scandal. It needs to explain in detail what role An and other Blue House officials played in setting up these foundations.

The Blue House must not forget that the Chun Doo-hwan administration blatantly lied about the establishment of the Ilhae Foundation but that in the end the truth came out. If the Blue House thinks it can get off the hook by prevaricating about the Mir Foundation and K-Sports Foundation, it is making a big mistake.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]