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Posted on 01/18/2003 7:06:27 PM PST by BlackJack
South Korean payoff scandal resurfaces with twist
2003-01-19 / Associated Press /
South Korea's government was embroiled yesterday in a budding scandal over alleged payoffs to North Korea, adding a new twist to the international nuclear standoff with the communist country.
South Korean President Kim Dae-jung was accused last fall by opposition leaders of secretly funneling 400 billion won (US$341 million) to North Korea ahead of his historic 2000 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
If true, the payment was seen as helping seal the meeting, which helped earn the Southern Kim a Nobel Peace Prize that year for his overtures to the North.
Allegations died down but flared again Friday, when President-elect Roh Moo-hyun said that prosecutors should investigate the matter. Roh, from Kim's ruling Millennium Democratic Party, takes office next month.
"If the investigation is not taken place before Roh's inauguration, an investigation will take place after Roh's inauguration," Roh's spokesman, Lee Nak-yon, was quoted as saying by local media.
The opposition Grand National Party issued a statement yesterday saying it will "closely watch" whether Roh follows through with the push to investigate.
The scandal could dampen public support for the 2000 summit, which sparked unprecedented reconciliation projects between the divided Koreas. Kim's opponents accused him of giving too much to the North for too little in return.
Doubts are resurfacing at a time when South Korea has tried to capitalize on its ties with Pyongyang to help mediate a diplomatic end to the current nuclear dispute. Roh has made diplomatic engagement of the North a top priority.
When the allegations first surfaced, President Kim's spokesman dismissed them as a "groundless" political ploy by the opposition Grand National Party.
Roh's resolve to investigate could be an effort to put doubts behind his fledgling administration and keep its plans for continued engagement on track.
Diplomatic efforts have grown more intense since last week, when North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It has threatened to resume its missile tests and reprocess spent nuclear fuel rods, a possible step toward making nuclear arms.
The current standoff began in October, when the United States said Pyongyang had admitted having a secret nuclear program. In response, Washington suspended fuel shipments. North Korea responded by expelling U.N. nuclear inspectors and said it had reactivated nuclear facilities frozen since 1994.
International pressure is increasing for Washington to take the lead in negotiating with North Korea over the nuclear standoff.
Roh urged the United States on Friday to enter direct negotiations with North Korea, and an envoy from Russia - which has been approached to intervene with the North - said Washington must take the lead in dealing with the crisis.
North Korea has also said only the United States could solve the issue and spurned an attempt by Seoul to discuss the North's nuclear ambitions in talks next week.
Washington has been canvassing allies to pressure North Korea into scrapping nuclear programs believed capable of building atomic bombs.
U.S. President George W. Bush has said the United States is willing to talk with the North, but not hold negotiations over its nuclear program - an offer Pyongyang said was insincere. Bush has held out the possibility of energy and agricultural aid if the North abandons its nuclear plans but refused to make any guarantees.
Russia and China, two of North Korea's historical allies, are expected to play a key role in reaching a solution, possibly as mediators. But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov played down Russia's contribution, saying "First of all, this situation needs to be resolved on a bilateral level, between North Korea and the United States."
Losyukov was expected to travel to North Korea this weekend for talks in Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, the Koreas have rekindled several reconciliation projects that agreed to at the 2000 summit but suffered amid tensions between North Korea and the United States.
Next week, they will hold Cabinet-level talks in Seoul - the first in months. The talks are the highest level of direct contact between the governments, and next week's meetings will be the ninth round since they were established at the summit.
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If this is the going price for a Nobel Peace Prize, Clinton's got his work cut out for him, pumping up his lie-brary fund to buy his.
Yes, and No. They admitted it was because they were angry at Bush. Korea was just an excuse.
Carter kept it anyway.
Yep. At the time I don't think I was a freeper, or it would have been posted. But, the news I read back then came from Newsmax, Drudge, and World Net Daily.
Maybe it's in the FR archives? I can't believe FR missed it?
BRB. I'll check.
These days, its a symbol of treachery, incompetence, or both. Its like a criminal record. I'm trying to imagine a situation in which I would recieve a NPP and actually admit it to anyone. I mean, people would get the wrong idea.
"What, this? It's, ahh, nothing. Picked it up at a swap meet, it looked kinda cool at the time. Do you want it?"
I remember some words like, "Yes this should be read as a criticism of the present occupant of the White House." These words uttered by an assistant to the peace prize committee. Let's ask him what kind of a warrantee comes with that Peace Prize... (it's not even a year so far, is it)
I guess you weren't 'concerned about politics' then, huh?
I did find these on News Max today.....
Bin Laden Sends Greetings to D.C. Protesters?
Ramsey Clark to Protesters: 'Let's Impeach Bush'
Isn't that SOP for the socialists? Bribery leads to Nobel "Peace Prize". The left will of course give Clinton his due after the outrage dies down. How long before most realize thet the NPP is a leftist sham?
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