No end in sight for Kim's woes

These are blue days for the Blue House. New evidence that Choi Gyu-seon, a businessman detained Friday on charges of receiving bribes and influence peddling, visited the Blue House in an effort to save his neck is being turned up daily by prosecutors. And judging from the prosecutors' investigations thus far of two of President Kim Dae-jung's three sons, it appears they are just days away from being called in for questioning.

Kim Hong-up, vice president of his father's Kim Dae-jung Peace Foundation, could be called in for questioning regarding the foundation's financial connection to the indicted start-up businessman Lee Yong-ho. Kim Hong-gul, the president's third son, will have to answer why his name has surfaced so prominently in allegations against Choi Gyu-seon.

Several Blue House officials admit to having met with or talked on the phone to Choi Gyu-seon about April 10, when prosecutors announced they were investigating him. A presidential secretary for audit and inspection, Rho Wi-soo, and two secretaries for civil affairs, Kim Hyon-sup and Lee Man-yeong, said they talked to Mr. Choi, but insisted that the contacts were merely social. All three refused to discuss the details of their conversations with Mr. Choi.

The sense of crisis at the Blue House seems even stronger now than in January or February, when several figures connected to the Blue House were forced to step down from their posts or were detained for their involvement in various scandals, including the stock market manipulation scandal with Lee Yong-ho.

This time, however, the president's own sons are the target of investigations, and Prosecutor General Lee Myung-jae seems more intent on pursuing investigations than his predecessors.

In early February, in response to criticisms of conflict of interest, the administration ended its practice of commissioning prosecutors to work as presidential secretaries. Since then, there have been fewer channels between the Blue House and the prosecutors' office, eliminating many "smoothing out" processes.

The sense of crisis has been heightened by the overnight hospitalization of the president last week. President Kim Dae-jung has been advised by doctors to cut his workload for at least a month. "The president's health is fine," said the Blue House spokeswoman Park Sun-sook. "As to how he's feeling mentally, I don't know because I haven't personally asked him."

With the appointment of trusted aide Park Jie-won as Blue House chief of staff, insiders see the president's ability to handle these attacks fortified for now, but observers doubt it will help fend off future allegations.

by Chun Young-gi