Tag: embezzlement

These are some pretty serious allegations being hurled at President Moon about his daughter:

The ruling Democratic Party on Wednesday urged an opposition lawmaker to apologize to President Moon Jae-in for claiming that his daughter and her family may have moved abroad because they were dissatisfied with Korea’s economy or education system. 

The main conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP) refused to back down, saying the Blue House has yet to respond to its lawmaker’s open inquiry asking why Moon’s daughter left the country.

The tit-for-tat began Tuesday when LKP Rep. Kwak Sang-do, during an LKP internal meeting, disclosed paper documents he said were submitted by Moon’s daughter to her son’s elementary school on July 11, 2018, which indicated that the family was going to move abroad. 

Kwak, a former prosecutor, said he found out that Moon’s grandson, who at the time was a second-grader, is now attending an international school in one of 10 countries that comprise the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos, Indonesia, Cambodia and Brunei. 

Kwak claimed that a day before Moon’s daughter informed her son’s school about the move overseas, she sold her villa in Jongno District, central Seoul. 

The opposition lawmaker asked the Blue House to reveal how much the Presidential Security Service was spending on protecting Moon’s daughter and her family in a foreign country, noting it would cost more than if they were living in Korea.

Kwak also asked why the family moved abroad, saying that if it were for the child’s education, it would mean the Korean education system had “flaws.” 

If it were due to the parents’ careers, it could mean they were “dissatisfied” with the Korean economy, he continued. 

“The public needs to know about the complaints of the president’s children,” said Kwak.

The LKP lawmaker also took a jab at Moon’s son-in-law, saying “speculation is running rampant” that the government funded 20 billion won ($17.9 million) to a company he worked for, and 3 billion won was allegedly embezzled, so the Blue House told him to leave the country while they settle the case.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but according to this article in the Hankyoreh from a year ago Moon’s daughter does not like being in the spotlight. Her move could have been simply to get away from the media attention in South Korea.

It appears that the Blue House is going after anyone remotely connected with former President Park Geun-hye, here is the latest example:

The president of KAIST, Korea’s top science and engineering university, is the target of a government inquiry that some suspect to be politically motivated.

The Science Ministry on Tuesday issued a request to KAIST’s board of trustees that it suspend Shin Sung-chul, KAIST’s incumbent president, six days after it formally recommended he be criminally charged for embezzlement and breach of duty.

The board will decide whether to suspend Shin after an internal meeting next Thursday.

“I cannot help but feel devastated that such accusations are being brought up now,” Shin said at a press conference at KAIST on Tuesday. “We already received a detailed government audit at DGIST [his former workplace where the irregularities are supposed to have occurred] back in 2016.”

But analysts are claiming political motives are behind the investigation.

Shin’s alleged misconduct dates to his days as the founding president of the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology (DGIST), a lesser known public science and engineering institute located in Daegu.

DGIST signed a memorandum of understanding with an American research institute in February 2012. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) – better known as Berkeley Lab – agreed to provide DGIST with cutting edge research equipment from its Center for X-ray Optics in exchange for research fees from DGIST.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but apparently money from DGIST was sent to Berkeley for the equipment that the government is claiming was public grant money.  Shin says the equipment was never supposed to be sent to DGIST for free by Berkeley and that public grants were not used to pay for it.

Here is why the Blue House is allegedly trying to get rid of Shin, he is an old elementary school friend of former President Park Geun-hye:

“Even if the government’s accusations are true, it is unclear how Shin can be accused of embezzlement when he himself did not take the money,” said Lee Byung-tae, a professor at KAIST’s Graduate School of Management. “Science Minister You Young-min himself said the issue was out of his hands, but this recent move looks like it has the Blue House behind it.”

Lee added that Shin’s decision to appoint Lim as a professor was completely within the realm of his discretion as university president. If wrongdoing is indeed clear, the board of trustees at KAIST can easily decide on their own to fire Shin, Lee said.

Shin has refused to step down from his position, saying he would make that decision once the board meets and reaches a conclusion.

An elementary school colleague of former President Park Geun-hye, Shin became KAIST’s president last February amid a controversial selection process in which he was accused of being a political appointment. Shin has not complained of political persecution.

Despite being convicted of embezzling nearly a million dollars, the CEO of the largest foreign language business in South Korea, Pagoda has received no jail time with her entire sentence being suspended:

PAGODA Academy CEO Park Kyung-sil was found guilty of embezzlement and breach of trust, an appellate court said Tuesday.

The Seoul High Court sentenced the 61-year-old leader of Korea’s major foreign language institute to two-years-and-six months in prison with the term suspended for three years.

The ruling was made after the court reviewed the case at the request of the Supreme Court, which found faults with the grounds for the appellate court’s ruling.