Devil’s snare
Former Agriculture-Forestry Minister Im Sang-gyu should have secured a place in the annals of Korean bureaucracy as a model public administrator, if only he had a little more courage to escape the temptation of corruption. He called it “the devil’s snare” in his suicide note found Monday.
Suicide is not rare in this country. But in most corruption scandals, the accused bureaucrats or politicians exert great perseverance to clear their names through court battles; some are successful and some are not. Seeing the banality of bureaucratic improprieties in this country, people tend not to admire those who choose death instead of disgrace. Yet, there are individuals who cannot forgive themselves for their own weakness.
“Torment and sorrow are holding me. It is impossible to escape from this devil’s snare. I am tired and exhausted. … All these troubles originated from relations that I valued,” Im said in his letter to his family. His suicide came a week after the prosecution banned his overseas travel upon investigating allegations of influence peddling. Prosecutors suspected Im received 20 million won from Yu Sang-bong, a catering business broker who is accused of wide-ranging bribery with senior government officials.
Im made his name as the budget czar of the Kim Dae-jung administration. He then held the positions of vice minister of science and technology and minister of cabinet coordination before serving as the agriculture-forestry minister for seven months under President Roh Moo-hyun. After retirement from public service, he took professorship at Suncheon University and was elected its president a year ago.
His name also came up in the ongoing prosecution probe into bribery and embezzlement of the executives of the Busan Savings Bank group. The group’s chairman, Park Yeon-ho, is Im’s high school alumnus and father-in-law of his son. Im is alleged to have withdrawn 50 million won from the Busan-based bank shortly before it was ordered to close business. Here, we are seeing the structure of elite society woven with school and family ties that often foment corruption.
Two years ago, the nation was shocked by the suicide of Roh, who faced a prosecution probe in connection with his friend Park Yeon-cha’s money scandals, which also involved Roh’s wife and son. The tragedy, however, had little impact on the general landscape of bureaucratic and political corruption. Structural improprieties between administrators and contractors and between politicians and favor-seeking donors persisted while international transparency indices put low figures for this country.
About a third of elected chiefs of local administrations have been investigated for bribery and misappropriation charges. About half of those investigated have been convicted, with some saving their positions with light punishment. In the case of Seongnam City just south of Seoul, two former mayors were imprisoned, the third is now in jail and the incumbent has just installed CCTV cameras in and outside his office to ward off visitors offering bribes.
Im Sang-gyu’s death must be saddening those who respected his bureaucratic competence and envied his successful career. But many incumbents in the central and local government offices will be comparing the level of their own improprieties with the kind of misdeeds that were attributed to Im or others whose names appeared in recent news items on prosecution investigations.
Some of them may console themselves reassuring their relative cleanness while others will feel uncomfortable with the realization of the seriousness of what they had been routinely doing and the gravity of possible consequences. If the latter group changes their attitude even a little, there will be an improvement in our bureaucratic community; without a new awakening, we will see more tragic endings of brilliant bureaucratic careers in the days ahead.
Suicide is not rare in this country. But in most corruption scandals, the accused bureaucrats or politicians exert great perseverance to clear their names through court battles; some are successful and some are not. Seeing the banality of bureaucratic improprieties in this country, people tend not to admire those who choose death instead of disgrace. Yet, there are individuals who cannot forgive themselves for their own weakness.
“Torment and sorrow are holding me. It is impossible to escape from this devil’s snare. I am tired and exhausted. … All these troubles originated from relations that I valued,” Im said in his letter to his family. His suicide came a week after the prosecution banned his overseas travel upon investigating allegations of influence peddling. Prosecutors suspected Im received 20 million won from Yu Sang-bong, a catering business broker who is accused of wide-ranging bribery with senior government officials.
Im made his name as the budget czar of the Kim Dae-jung administration. He then held the positions of vice minister of science and technology and minister of cabinet coordination before serving as the agriculture-forestry minister for seven months under President Roh Moo-hyun. After retirement from public service, he took professorship at Suncheon University and was elected its president a year ago.
His name also came up in the ongoing prosecution probe into bribery and embezzlement of the executives of the Busan Savings Bank group. The group’s chairman, Park Yeon-ho, is Im’s high school alumnus and father-in-law of his son. Im is alleged to have withdrawn 50 million won from the Busan-based bank shortly before it was ordered to close business. Here, we are seeing the structure of elite society woven with school and family ties that often foment corruption.
Two years ago, the nation was shocked by the suicide of Roh, who faced a prosecution probe in connection with his friend Park Yeon-cha’s money scandals, which also involved Roh’s wife and son. The tragedy, however, had little impact on the general landscape of bureaucratic and political corruption. Structural improprieties between administrators and contractors and between politicians and favor-seeking donors persisted while international transparency indices put low figures for this country.
About a third of elected chiefs of local administrations have been investigated for bribery and misappropriation charges. About half of those investigated have been convicted, with some saving their positions with light punishment. In the case of Seongnam City just south of Seoul, two former mayors were imprisoned, the third is now in jail and the incumbent has just installed CCTV cameras in and outside his office to ward off visitors offering bribes.
Im Sang-gyu’s death must be saddening those who respected his bureaucratic competence and envied his successful career. But many incumbents in the central and local government offices will be comparing the level of their own improprieties with the kind of misdeeds that were attributed to Im or others whose names appeared in recent news items on prosecution investigations.
Some of them may console themselves reassuring their relative cleanness while others will feel uncomfortable with the realization of the seriousness of what they had been routinely doing and the gravity of possible consequences. If the latter group changes their attitude even a little, there will be an improvement in our bureaucratic community; without a new awakening, we will see more tragic endings of brilliant bureaucratic careers in the days ahead.
Across the Tumen River
If the political atmosphere between China and North Korea may at times be changeable, the two neighboring countries have been strengthening their economic cooperation steadily and substantially, particularly across the Tumen River. Some of the South Korean media saw political significance in the postponement of the official launches of the Hwanggeumpyeong and Hunchun-Raseon projects last month, but groundbreaking took place only about 10 days later in the two locations.
Speculations had it that Kim Jong-il, dissatisfied with the Chinese leaders’ lukewarm response to his request for large-scale food and energy aid during his week-long visit to China, called off the groundbreaking ceremonies. Yet, officials of the two countries had been preparing for the launch of the two biggest cooperation projects in years, one at the eastern end and the other at the western end of the border, though in a more low key way than expected.
In the Hwanggeumpyeong islet on the Yalu (Amnok) River, a large number of Chinese and North Korean workers and dignitaries attended the groundbreaking ceremony on June 8 for the tourism and industrial development of the North Korean-held delta on the Chinese border. Jang Song-thaek, vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, who also controls Pyongyang’s external business, represented the North and from the Chinese side was Minister of Commerce Chen Deming. Chen and Jang then flew to Yenji in the Yanbian Korean autonomous province the following day and traveled to Raseon across the Tumen to see the commencing of the 53 kilometer Hunchun-Raseon road project and the construction of a cement plant.
China has pushed these “joint projects” as part of its “Chang(chun)-Ji(lin)-Tu(men)” development plan, which was announced in November 2009, aiming to turn the vast northeastern region into a major industrial and logistics center like Shenzhen in the south. The Changli group of China has earlier won the right for exclusive use of Pier No. 1 in Rajin Port. Rajin in the Raseon special economic zone will be a focus of the Chang-Ji-Tu plan as the maritime outlet for products from the region.
Political fluctuations would hardly deter the progress of development projects in the area around the Tumen River estuary, where the territories of China, Russia and North Korea meet. It is necessary for South Korea’s big corporations to pay closer attention to the Tumen River basin, considering that their major investment in the region would earn them significant leverage on the North Korean economy in the future.
Speculations had it that Kim Jong-il, dissatisfied with the Chinese leaders’ lukewarm response to his request for large-scale food and energy aid during his week-long visit to China, called off the groundbreaking ceremonies. Yet, officials of the two countries had been preparing for the launch of the two biggest cooperation projects in years, one at the eastern end and the other at the western end of the border, though in a more low key way than expected.
In the Hwanggeumpyeong islet on the Yalu (Amnok) River, a large number of Chinese and North Korean workers and dignitaries attended the groundbreaking ceremony on June 8 for the tourism and industrial development of the North Korean-held delta on the Chinese border. Jang Song-thaek, vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, who also controls Pyongyang’s external business, represented the North and from the Chinese side was Minister of Commerce Chen Deming. Chen and Jang then flew to Yenji in the Yanbian Korean autonomous province the following day and traveled to Raseon across the Tumen to see the commencing of the 53 kilometer Hunchun-Raseon road project and the construction of a cement plant.
China has pushed these “joint projects” as part of its “Chang(chun)-Ji(lin)-Tu(men)” development plan, which was announced in November 2009, aiming to turn the vast northeastern region into a major industrial and logistics center like Shenzhen in the south. The Changli group of China has earlier won the right for exclusive use of Pier No. 1 in Rajin Port. Rajin in the Raseon special economic zone will be a focus of the Chang-Ji-Tu plan as the maritime outlet for products from the region.
Political fluctuations would hardly deter the progress of development projects in the area around the Tumen River estuary, where the territories of China, Russia and North Korea meet. It is necessary for South Korea’s big corporations to pay closer attention to the Tumen River basin, considering that their major investment in the region would earn them significant leverage on the North Korean economy in the future.
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