MOD in Hot Seat over Linda Kim and Maehyang

The National Defense Committee called Park Yong-ok, the vice minister of National Defense, to account for his ministry's actions in the Baektu lobbying scandal and the bombing accident in Maehyang-ri.

Ahn Dong-sun of the Millennium Democratic Party said "Linda Kim's lobbying case revealed that the center of power from the former administration intervened in the Paektu project." He added, "Former National Defense Minister Lee Yang-ho must be arrested and investigated in order to throw some light upon the affair."

Lee Sin-bum of the Grand National Party raised suspicions on the relationship between Linda Kim and Cho Poong-un, a Korean-American lobbyist. He insisted that "while the Paektu project was ongoing in 1995, Cho was the sales representative of Loral of the US, while Linda Kim was also a lobbyist working for the same company."

Lawmakers of both the ruling and opposition parties are urging the government "to establish an integrated countermeasure that will include compensation for the residents of Maehyang-ri for damages incurred from bombing exercises of the US Air Force, and a plan to move the military training camp." The lawmakers agreed that "the government must revise the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement)."

by Kim Jung-ha