Park denies allegations on his civic activities

Civil activist Park Won-soon, who seeks the liberal camp’s sole candidacy next week, set out to defend himself against financial and ethical charges posed against him.

“I understand that the public may well request a certain level of frugality and integrity from a civil activist candidate,” Park said on his website Tuesday.

“The given allegations, however, will only prove my veracity.”

His words came in response to netizens’ suspicion that he has been living extravagantly in a large apartment in Bangbae-dong, southern Seoul.

“I have not owned an apartment since I devoted myself to civic group activities in 1993,” he wrote.

Park took his current apartment on a lease, with 100 million won as key money and monthly rent of 2.5 million won.

“The fact that I had to sell my apartment proves that I did not seek personal financial benefits while working as a civil activist,” he also said.

Though he received 300 million won and 200 million won from POSCO and Pulmuone Holdings as an outside director, Park donated 420 million won of it to charity, he said.

Regarding the charges that he has a second house in Gangnam, he explained that the building was the office building of his wife’s company, before it was registered as a corporation.

Park’s wife was also suspected of winning interior construction bids for many companies, including the Beautiful Foundation, which Park chaired.

“The Beautiful Foundation, in its early stages, was financially unstable and the conditions of its store decoration were ungenerous,” Park said.

“The involvement of P&P Design ― the interior design company owned by Park’s wife ― was more of a voluntary support for the foundation rather than a profitable deal.”

He also answered the charges concerning his children.

“My daughter went to Geneva University earlier this year for a one-year course, under a foreign company’s scholarship program,” he said.

Park’s son was suspected of military draft evasion when he returned home within days of entering Air Force training center last month. Park explained that his son suffered from aftereffects of a past injury but would rejoin the army later his year.

The ruling Grand National Party, however, attacked Park, who is currently the opposition camp’s top frontrunner.

“We shall look closely into Park’s civic activities,” said Rep. Kim Chung-kwon in a radio interview on Tuesday. “A civil activist’s role is to keep watch and criticize the government and conglomerates, not to receive financial benefits from them.”

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)