Once disgraced in scandal, Byeon defends late Roh’s policy

Former presidential policy planner Byeon Yang-kyoon opens up after four years of silence with a book defending much criticized economic policies of the Roh Moo-hyun administration.

In his book titled “Roh Moo-hyun’s Warm Economics” that was released on Jan. 10, Byeon said he decided to publish the book to encourage a reassessment of Roh’s economic policies.

“Roh was neither a progressive nor a conservative. He may have dreamed of becoming a progressive but he always remained a rational pragmatist,“ he said.

Byeon defended Roh’s push to increase welfare spending, saying the move “essentially bolsters growth in the long run.”

But much of the attention was paid to the account of his improper love affair with former art curator Shin Jeong-ah, which he says he now “deeply regrets.”

“The scandal with Shin Jeong-ah was a mistake, my only major ordeal I had to endure in my life,” he wrote towards the end of the book.

“It was all my fault and something I am deeply ashamed of. But not knowing the full implications of that on the Roh administration was a bigger mistake.”

He said never would he have imagined his relationship would be used to attack his political alliance and emphasized that the prosecution had cleared him of all charges related to Shin.

Byeon, 63, had been in jail for almost six months for putting pressure on large companies to donate funds to an art museum where Shin was a curator between 2005 and 2007. He was also accused of peddling influence to get Shin selected as the Gwangju Biennale director in July 2007.

Shin, who shook the nation in 2007 with degree scams and a love affair, released the tell-all autobiography March this year.

By Cynthia J. Kim (cynthiak@heraldcorp.com)