Moon accused of getting son a job

The presidential campaigns of Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party are locking antlers over allegations that Moon helped land his son a job.

Moon’s son, Joon-yong, was hired in 2006 at the state-run Korea Employment Information Service, while his father was working as the political affairs senior secretary for President Roh Moo-hyun.

Kim In-won, a senior member of the Ahn campaign, held a press conference on Friday during which he said he had obtained a statement from a friend of Moon’s son, who studied with him at the Parsons School of Design in New York from September 2008, which allegedly proved Joon-yong had received help in landing a position as a motion graphic designer.

During the press conference, Kim unveiled a recorded statement from the friend. The voice was changed to keep the source anonymous. “He said his father [Moon Jae-in] talked to someone, so he just needed to submit a resume to work there,” the source said.

The friend also said other Korean students at Parsons knew about the special treatment, Kim said.

“Joon-yong didn’t think it was a problem that he got the job and received a salary without working,” the friend said in the interview with the People’s Party. “He didn’t think he had stolen it from other, qualified people.”

The Moon campaign has challenged the veracity of the source. Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon of the Democratic Party asked the prosecution on Saturday to investigate three People’s Party officials, including Kim, on charges of slander.

It also made public a statement on Sunday from a friend of Moon’s son, who claimed that the Ahn campaign’s source is fake. “Mun Sang-ho, a friend of Joon-yong during his study abroad years, sent an email to the Democratic Party,” said Rep. Park Kwang-on, public affairs chief of the Moon campaign.

According to Park, the People’s Party said its source is a man who studied with Joon-yong at Parsons for two years and is currently residing in Korea. “There were six Koreans who were admitted to the master’s program for design and technology at Parsons in 2008,” Mun said in an email to the Democratic Party. “Three were men, and they are Mun Sang-ho, Moon Joon-yong and another student. The third person took a leave of absence during the program and is currently living in the United States. I am the only person who fits the profile [as the People’s Party’s source].”

Mun said he did not give an interview with the People’s Party. “The friend quoted by the People’s Party, therefore, is a fake,” he said.

“This is a serious crime,” Park said. “We will make sure the officials who plotted this face legal punishment after the election.”

A group of 44 Konkuk University alumni also issued a statement on Saturday and urged the People’s Party to stop its attack on their former classmate. They said it is unacceptable that the human rights of a talented artist are being violated by politicians.

The People’s Party urged Moon Joon-yong to make public his position. It also said it will ask the prosecution to investigate Rep. Kim and other Democratic Party officials for making false accusations against the Ahn campaign.

BY SER MYO-JA [ser.myoja@joongang.co.kr]