A parliamentary inquiry summoned nine of South Korea’s most powerful business leaders for questioning at Seoul’s National Assembly today, including representatives of SK and Lotte in relation to cash donations allegedly made to foundations linked to Choi Soon-sil – a close friend of President Park Geun-hye.

 

Both Lotte and SK are two of these companies where investigators were seeking to discover whether any promises were made to these (or any other companies) in return for cash donations to foundations allegedly controlled by Choi. Both Lotte and SK are currently applying for downtown duty free licences in Seoul.

 

BUSINESS LEADERS DENY ‘CASH FOR FAVOURS…’

As reported, Choi (inset, top right, with Park left) is currently under arrest, charged with abuse of her position and attempted fraud. Meanwhile, all of the business leaders questioned today denied that they were ‘persuaded’ into paying millions of dollars to the government-linked foundations promoted by Choi – in return for any favours.

 

Today’s nationwide televised inquiry heard the heads of all these family-run chaebols [family-owned business conglomerates-Ed] deny giving monies with any future expectations of preferential treatment in relation to their respective businesses.

Apart from Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin and SK Group boss Chey Tae-won, the other seven major South Korean companies whose senior leaders were also summoned for questioning included CJ Group; GS Group; Hanhwa; Hanjin; Hyundai; LG; and Samsung.

 

Meanwhile, the imminent award of licenses for two downtown duty free shops in Seoul and another two in secondary major cities is now just two weeks away, with the Korean Customs Service expected to make an announcement on December 17.

 

Lotte and SK have made no secret they are bidding, with KSC expected to make its four awards before December 20.

 

This all comes at the same time that opposition parties are vowing to impeach President Park Geun-hye in an effort to remove her from office and/or any further decision-making role. Park’s relationship with Choi and the ability of the latter to get so close to the President have been huge factors influencing some of the biggest street protests ever seen in the country’s history.

 

2.3M CALL FOR PARK TO GO

Last weekend’s turnout was the biggest over the last month, with more than 2.3m Koreans calling for Park to resign, as the vast majority gathered on the streets of Seoul, while the remainder protested in major secondary cities in the country.

 

Meanwhile, a good proportion of today’s proceedings at Seoul’s National Assembly were televised by several Korean television stations this morning (Seoul, South Korean time).

 

This included a report by Arirang TV, which is a public service English language agency.

 

Its report on today’s meeting showing investigators questioning the respective business leaders can be viewed at its website directly by clicking here: http://www.arirang.com/News/News_View.asp?nseq=198486