hankyoreh

It has been revealed that Cheong Wa Dae ordered an unofficial, internal investigation into whether government ministries deliberately sought to look out for Samsung in the course of revising the "Law on Financial Industry Restructuring." The law requires approval when a financial company owns more than 5 percent of a subsidiary within the same conglomerate, but loopholes have cause problems by allowing Samsung's status, which violates the law, to continue.

Samsung Life owns 7.2 percent of Samsung Electronics and Samsung Card owns 25.7 percent of Samsung Everland, shares acquired without approval that support Samsung's structure of ownership. In July the cabinet approved a revision to the Law on Financial Industry Restructuring that was to allow for the government to be able to order financial companies to shell shares owned illegally. The problem is that there is a clause that says shares owned before the law took effect cannot be ordered sold. The government says that the law cannot logically be applied retroactively, and yet civic groups have been complaining that the law unfairly gives certain violators a break.

It is a very serious matter if government officials got in bed with a jaebeol and twisted the legislation. If the suspicions continue unanswered for a long time, public distrust of government and big business will only grow as a result. Cheong Wa Dae was right to look into the matter. If it is true that there was collusion between Samsung and government officials then those involved must be strictly punished. If nothing improper happened then the suspicions should be dealt with. We must guard against an atmosphere where civil servants are attacked based on hasty assumptions.

On Friday accusations were made that the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation discovered Samsung's commercial vehicle division illegally doctored its account books and yet still looked the other way. The fundamental reason why there continue to be suspicions about government offices ignoring Samsung illegalities continue to make the news must be uncovered. Much of it is because of Samsung's greed, since it goes to unreasonable means to maintain its system of ownership and tries to fix the law and the system so that they work for their advantage. Some of the government officials who are unable to free themselves of the net of Samsung's financial powers and personal connections also have responsibility to bear. People need to reflect on why you hear the expression "Republic of Samsung." Only transparency can rid the suspicions.

The Hankyoreh, 24 September 2005.


[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]