Peace foundation in limbo

President Kim Dae-jung's private research institute, the Kim Dae-jung Peace Foundation for the Asia-Pacific Region, will close down for all intents and purposes, reducing its operations to the bare minimum for the remaining 10 months of the president's tenure, the foundation's board of directors said Thursday.

"The foundation is caught in partisan wrangling, its finances have deteriorated, so it is hard to keep on with research activities," said Representative Sul Hoon, who is one of the foundation's directors.

"The foundation will minimize operations until President Kim returns after completing his tenure," Mr. Sul said, coming out of the board meeting presided over by Kim Hong-up, the president's second son and vice chairman of the foundation.

Just three or four managers and one or two researchers will keep working during the layoff, Mr. Sul said. The foundation employs a staff of 65 normally.

The decision comes as the foundation is at a center of corruption scandal. Its former executive director Lee Soo-dong is being held on a charge of accepting a bribe from businessman Lee Yong-ho. Kim Hong-up faces allegations that he raised slush funds through the foundation with the help of his friend Kim Sung-hwan.

The foundation was founded in 1994 as a research institute and served as the launch pad for the president's political comeback after his defeat in the 1992 presidential election. His son joined the foundation as vice chairman when President Kim took office in February 1998. The president has said that he wants to return to the foundation after his term is up.

In another development, Kwon Roh-kap, a former Millennium Democratic Party adviser and leader of the party's largest faction, will reportedly close his Mapo district office when the lease expires at the end of this month. Mr. Kwon, a long-time aide to President Kim, has been frequently criticized for his alleged influence-peddling. His Mapo office was pinpointed by party reformists as the center from which he directed the inner workings of the MDP.

by Lee Jung-min