Korea seizes ex-president’s assets in U.S.

The Justice Ministry said Tuesday that the U.S. government finalized the transfer of former South Korean president Chun Doo-hwan’s laundered money in the country to South Korea. 

The U.S. Justice Department returned $1.12 million in U.S. assets belonging to Chun’s family to the Korean government in the first such case as part of the Korean authorities’ drive to collect unpaid fines from the 84-year-old former dictator.

Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong confirmed the agreement with his U.S. counterpart Loretta Lynch on Monday at the headquarters of the U.S. 
Justice Department in Washington, following an initial settlement in March. 

Earlier this year, the U.S. Justice Department froze a total of $1.2 million in assets of Chun’s son and wife on two occasions. It seized $726,000 in proceeds from the sale of their residence in California and $500,000 in investment bonds.

The move came after the prosecution launched a special investigation team in 2013 into the former military leader’s hidden money in a bid to reclaim illegally accumulated assets. 

In 1997, Chun, who rose to power in a military coup in 1979, was convicted on a number of charges, including bribery, and was ordered to return to the state 220 billion won ($190 million) he earned through kickbacks during his presidency from 1981 to 1988.

The prosecutors confiscated half of the original amount over the past decade as the National Assembly passed a bill extending the statute of limitations on seizing assets from government officials who had failed to pay fines. 

The statute of limitations on Chun’s case was extended to 2020.
The law also allowed the prosecution to collect the fine from his family members instead of Chun himself if the asset was proven to be originated from his illegally earned funds. 

The former dictator, who resides in western Seoul, drew the public ire as he refused to pay the money, claiming he was broke, despite the news reports on his family leading a life of luxury here and in the U.S. 

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)