Kim Young-sam Aide Arrested in Slush Fund Case

The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office arrested Lee Won-jong, the Blue House secretary for political affairs under the Kim Young-sam administration, on Friday without obtaining a warrant from the court. The prosecution questioned Mr. Lee about his suspected involvement in the alleged funneling of funds into the then-ruling New Korea Party from the National Security Planning Agency during the general election campaign in 1996.

The prosecution suspects that as a top Blue House official at the time, Mr. Lee must have known about the diversion of 119.2 billion won ($93 million) from the coffers of the state intelligence agency and its distribution to candidates. The prosecution asked Mr. Lee why he met with Rep. Kang Sam-jae, secretary-general and campaign manager of the New Korea Party during the 1996 election campaign, after a number of witnesses testified that the two met three to four times shortly before the election.

Mr. Kang has said that he never received money from the intelligence agency. Kim Ki-sup, former money manager at the intelligence agency, has said that he was in charge of the entire operation. The prosecution believes such a huge sum of money could not have been handled alone by a mid-level official at the government agency. It suspects that Mr. Lee worked as a bridge between the intelligence agency and the party.

The prosecution said that it believes some of the transferred funds went into the Blue House secretariat and security service during local elections in 1995. According to the prosecution, Mr. Lee flatly denied all charges and said the Kim Young-sam Blue House would never get involved in "things of this nature" because they are contrary to the former president's political philosophy. Legal and political observers now wonder whether the prosecution will summon Mr. Kim for questioning.

by Shin Dong-jae