“If Mir Foundation and K-Sports Foundation Are Bribery... Is President Moon Free from It?”
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Former Liberty Korea Party leader Hong Joon-pyo stated on the 29th regarding the confirmation of a 17-year prison sentence for former President Lee Myung-bak, “Watching today’s Supreme Court ruling, I am truly at a loss for words.”
On Facebook that day, former leader Hong said, “The DAS company is a family business, but Lee’s older brother claimed it was his company, and President Lee also said it was his brother’s company,” adding, “The court ruled that the company belonged to Lee Myung-bak based solely on the presumed testimony of a driver who knew nothing, and based on that, convicted him of embezzling company funds.”
Hong also revealed, “When I visited Washington in October 2017 regarding the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons, I had a meal with lawyer Kim Seok-hwan, who handled Lee’s DAS lawsuit defense, and asked if the dollars he received from Samsung were payment for the DAS lawsuit.” He continued, “Lawyer Kim said that since 2007, his law firm had been advising Samsung on lawsuits, handling patent disputes in the U.S. and anti-dumping tariff issues, and the fees he received were legal fees for that, not payment for the DAS lawsuit. He said the DAS lawsuit was a pro bono defense for a Korean presidential case, expecting benefits for his law firm, and questioned how legal fees could be as high as 7 billion won for a 14 billion won lawsuit.”
Hong stated, “The charges of third-party bribery against former President Park Geun-hye are the same. If the Mir Foundation and K-Sports Foundation, which received cooperation from the business community to help Choi Soon-sil, are judged as bribes, then which president in history would not be caught for bribery?” He pointed out, “Is President Moon Jae-in free from this? Why is there no confiscation in a bribery case involving hundreds of billions of won?”
Hong said, “Watching the worst political ruling in history, a politically motivated judicial ruling, it is a farce to talk about nominating someone who made such groundless indictments as an opposition presidential candidate or to apologize in sympathy with the Moon Jae-in administration,” adding, “The opposition leadership is also not normal. Why is the world really turning like this?”
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