The chief of the country’s main opposition party has come under fire after local court papers on Tuesday revealed the veteran lawmaker allegedly engaged in influence peddling 10 years ago.
Documents from the Seoul Central District Court said Rep. Moon Hee-sang, chief of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy party, had asked Korean Air Lines Co. chairman Cho Yang-ho to offer a job to his brother-in-law. Moon then belonged to a parliamentary committee overseeing the airline industry.
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Rep. Moon Hee-sang, chief of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy party. (Yonhap) |
The report will likely work against the main opposition, analysts said, at a time when the NPAD has been intensifying its own public push against President Park Geun-hye’s top advisers over allegations of influence peddling in the Chung Yoon-hoi scandal.
Chung, Park’s former top adviser, is alleged to have influenced top government personnel decisions using his ties to incumbent aides at Cheong Wa Dae. Investigations by the prosecution are underway, but the probe appears unlikely to focus on the issue of influence peddling.
On Thursday, the NPAD did not say a word about Moon’s alleged influence peddling, while continuing its offensive against the president and her governing Saenuri Party.
“(Holding hearings) at the parliament (on the Chung scandal) is something that must be done,” NPAD floor leader Rep. Woo Yoon-keun said.
Other lawmakers present at the party’s daily morning meeting echoed Woo’s words. Moon, however, was conspicuously absent.
The ruling party and conservative media have pounced on Tuesday’s court documents.
“How is (Moon) going to explain this scandal, after demanding for all these weeks that the National Assembly should start a special prosecution and a probe into the Chung scandal?” Saenuri Rep. Kim Jin-tae said.
Some Saenuri officials have reportedly demanded that Moon step down from his post as leader of the main opposition.
Even the Kyunghyang Daily News, a liberal daily which is usually less critical of the opposition party than conservative newspapers, pulled no punches on the latest incident. “Moon is a man who has denounced President Park for her unwillingness to apologize and for her habit of failing to express any kind of remorse,” the newspaper said in an editorial. “A double standard will not do. Moon must apologize to the public and explain to the fullest extent what exactly occurred.”
Moon issued an apology through NPAD spokesperson Kim Sung-soo on Tuesday. Kim told reporters that the five-term lawmaker was deeply sorry for the incident, but insisted he was free from blame.
Kim quoted Moon as saying, “I swear over my political career that I have done nothing wrong.”
Moon apparently claims that he never met Korean Air chairman Cho to discuss any job offer for his brother-in-law. Moon said his brother-in-law had visited one of the carrier’s offices for a potential supply contract. Korean Air dropped the potential deal and instead offered a job to his brother-in-law, Moon said, according to the NPAD spokesman.
By Jeong Hunny (
hj257@heraldcorp.com)
