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| Former President Lee Myung-bak speaks out on a corruption investigation against him and his aides at his office in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap |
By Kim Rahn
Former President Lee Myung-bak called the prosecution's ongoing investigation into his alleged corruption "political retaliation" by the Moon Jae-in administration, Wednesday.
He said the ruling bloc should hold him accountable for things that took place during his term instead of seeking to arrest and punish officials who served under him.
Lee's remarks came a day after an aide, former senior presidential secretary for administrative affairs Kim Paik-joon, was arrested for allegedly receiving more than 400 million won ($375,000) from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) between 2008 and 2012. He was in charge of Cheong Wa Dae's financial affairs, and has managed Lee's personal wealth for nearly 40 years, often being called Lee's "butler."
Another former presidential secretary, Kim Jin-mo, was also arrested for taking 50 million won from the NIS and using it to silence a government official who was a whistleblower.
"I feel miserable that the recent retaliatory politics and attempts to overturn history are shaking the foundation of the country," Lee said in a statement he read at his office in southern Seoul.
He criticized the Moon administration's initiative to "eradicate deep-rooted social evils" that mainly targets alleged irregularities committed by the conservative Lee and Park Geun-hye administrations.
"Many people regard the prosecution's ongoing investigations, which are carried out under the name of eradicating deep-rooted evils, as a political maneuver to destroy conservatives, and political retaliation for former President Roh Moo-hyun's death," Lee said.
Roh killed himself in 2009 while being investigated for allegedly taking bribes. Many of his supporters have said the probe into the former liberal president was conducted as a favor to then conservative President Lee. Moon was Roh's longtime friend and aide.
"The investigation into former Cheong Wa Dae and government officials who worked with me has been targeting me from the beginning. The people now under investigation are those who devoted themselves to the country. I hold the final responsibility for anything that took place during my term. Don't hurt those, who dedicated themselves to the country, with unreasonable investigations, but hold me accountable," he said.
He announced the statement after having an emergency meeting with his aides, mostly former Cheong Wa Dae officials.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), which was the ruling party under the Lee and Park governments, also vehemently defended Lee after Kim Paik-joon was arrested. Because of Kim's close relationship with Lee and knowledge of his wealth, prosecutors believe he will be the key figure in finding out whether the former president also took the bribes and how he may have used the money, and in helping them probe a related allegation that Lee created a slush fund at the scandal-ridden company, DAS.
"As everybody knows, the Moon government has been trying to take all living former presidents to court since its inauguration in May," Rep. Kim Sung-tae, floor leader of the LKP, said in a party meeting at the National Assembly. "One (referring to Park) is behind bars, and the other is Lee," he said.
The floor leader said the Moon administration is trying to take political revenge by combining all allegations surrounding Lee, from the NIS posting of malicious comments about then-opposition candidate Moon in the 2012 presidential election to the DAS scandal and bribery at the spy agency.
Rep. Na Kyung-won of the LKP claimed the Moon government's goal was to destroy conservatives.
"I think the ruling bloc wants to deny everything done by the conservative administrations," she said in a radio interview. "What we (conservatives) did wrong should be revealed through the investigation, but for now I think the ongoing probe is unreasonable and unfair."
On the other hand, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) called on Lee to tell the truth.
"Lee's aides held an emergency meeting following Kim's arrest, and this shows the bribery was not an individual's fault but administration-level, systematic corruption," DPK spokeswoman Kim Hyun said. "It is time for Lee not to claim political retaliation but to tell the truth about all the allegations."
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