Muckraking Lawmaker Assailed

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Muckraking Lawmaker Assailed

Ruling Party Vows to Clear Slandered Administration Insiders

The ruling Millennium Democratic Party Friday vowed to take all legal measures possible against Rep. Lee Ju-young of the main opposition Grand National Party, who accused Kim Dae-jung administration insiders of involvement in the recent bribery scandal during a parliamentary hearing Thursday.

The opposition party defended the lawmaker's statements and charged that ruling camp politicians were hiding their involvement in the scandal by using false names accounts.

"We take Rep. Lee's statement as a purely political maneuver engineered by the opposition," Chairman Suh Young-hoon of the ruling party said, coming out of a hastily arranged party caucus.

The constitution provides immunity to lawmakers who make inflammatory or slanderous statements while parliament is in session. But the ruling party could sue for libel, and may raise the issue with the parliament's ethics committee.

Rep. Kim Ok-doo, secretary-general of the ruling party, said that he is innocent and pledged to give up his seat if found guilty.

"As a devout Catholic, I swear, with God as my witness, that I do not know about stocks or a private fund," he said.

Mr. Kim is one of four officials accused by Mr. Lee during his questioning of Prosecutor-General Park Soon-yong at the hearing Thursday. The others are Rep. Kim Hong-il, the president's second-eldest son; Kwon Roh-kap, a high-ranking ruling party official; and Park Joon-young, the presidential spokesman. The prosecutor-general denied that any of the men were involved.

Speculation that presidential confidantes invested in six private funds set up by Chung Hyun-joon has been circulating since the scandal involving Mr. Chung and his company, Korea Digital Line, broke last month. Some 654 investors including politicians, journalists and popular entertainers have allegedly invested in the funds which Mr. Chung used to bribe several unnamed officials.

"It is only right that a parliamentarian try to uncover information that has an effect on the finances of numerous citizens," said opposition leader Lee Hoi-chang, in response to the ruling party's grievance.

The opposition asked the prosecution to reveal the names of all of the investors in Mr. Chung's private funds.


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