Prosecutors summon union heads

Prosecutors yesterday summoned three high-level executives from the progressive Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union, including its chairman, Jeong Jin-hu, to question them about illegal contributions to the Democratic Labor Party.

Teachers are banned from political activity in Korea. All three exercised their right to be silent during questioning, prosecutors at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said.

“I don’t have DLP membership and I never engaged in political party activities,” Jeong told reporters before presenting himself to the prosecution. “I won’t cooperate with prosecution’s politically motivated investigation.”

Police gave prosecutors investigative records on the teachers’ union at the end of last month, and prosecutors said it won’t be hard to indict the three leaders. Police have solid evidence of the union’s support to the minor opposition party, including the purposes to which the alleged donations were put, prosecutors said.

Police allegedly found the names of teachers’ union and Korean Government Employees Union members on a DLP computer raided in February. The data showed 286 union members transferred 58 million won ($51,000) to an unregistered DLP bank account.

Prosecutors will summon the former and current leaders of the government employees’ union for questioning Friday.

By Kim Mi-ju, Choe Sun-uk [mijukim@joongang.co.kr]