Three lawmakers indicted over bribery

Three incumbent lawmakers were indicted on Monday for allegedly taking bribes on multiple occasions, prosecutors said.

The legislators -- Reps. Song Kwang-ho of the ruling Saenuri Party and Shin Geh-ryeun and Shin Hak-yong of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) -- were booked without physical detention in separate bribery cases.

Song is suspected of taking 65 million won (US$62,560) in bribes from local railway parts supplier AVT in exchange for business favors.

The 72-year-old lawmaker allegedly took money on 11 occasions over a period of two years from April 2012 after getting to know the company president through a former party spokesman who is now in detention.

The indictment came more than a week after the National Assembly refused to allow his arrest, which was subject to parliamentary consent as lawmakers in South Korea are immune from detention while the National Assembly is in session.

Song is the second incumbent lawmaker to be indicted in Korean history for allegedly taking bribes from railway parts suppliers following Rep. Cho Hyun-yong of the same party. Cho was indicted on Sept. 5 on suspicion of taking bribes worth 160 million won from railway parts supplier Sampyo E&C in return for awarding the private company contracts.

Rep. Shin Geh-ryeun is accused of taking about 55 million won in bribes from a local vocational training school earlier this year in return for helping pass a bill in favor of the school, prosecutors said. 

The passage of the bill to revise the vocational education law in April helped change the name and upgrade the status of what is now known as Seoul Art College. 

The prosecution alleges that Rep. Shin Hak-yong, the chairman of the National Assembly's education and culture committee, took 15 million won from the chairman of Seoul Art College in exchange for the same business favor. 

He was additionally indicted for allegedly receiving some 38 million won from an association of private kindergartens in return for proposing a law governing privately run kindergartens, according to prosecutors.

Also on Sept. 5, prosecutors detained and indicted Rep. Kim Jae-yun of the NPAD on charges of taking about 53 million won in kickbacks from the art college earlier this year in the same illegal lobbying case involving the school. (Yonhap)