Blue House accused of meddling in probe

The Grand National Party on Sunday accused the Blue House of influencing the prosecution's investigation into draft-dodging allegations against the son of the party's presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang.

Earlier a Millennium Democratic Party legislator said a senior prosecutor asked him to raise the military exemption issue in the National Assembly in March. He backed down after harsh criticism from the Grand National Party, which asserted that his allegations about a scandal were politically motivated.

The Grand National Party said it would voice dissatisfaction over the results of the prosecutor's probe.

The Grand National Party's secretary general, Kim Young-iel, said a ministerial-level official submitted a report to President Kim Dae-jung suggesting the investigation of illegal military exemptions involving politicians in 2001. The official was rumored to be the minister of culture and tourism, who was then a senior secretary of the Blue House. An official at the Grand National Party said his party had secured a copy of the report that was submitted to the President. "We plan to disclose it at the National Assembly at the proper moment," he said.

The Millennium Democratic Party has argued that the Grand National Party is trying to divert damage from the draft-dodging allegations by making accusations against the Blue House.

by Nam Jung-ho