SEOUL: South Korea lawmakers on Monday kicked off an unprecedented series of hearings that will grill the country’s business elite over a corruption scandal engulfing impeachment-threatened President Park Geun-Hye.
The powerful heads of family-run conglomerates, or “chaebols,” such as Samsung and Hyundai will be among those testifying before a parliamentary investigation ahead of an impeachment vote to remove the president on Friday.
The hearings opened on the back of a series of weekly mass demonstrations in Seoul that have seen millions of people take to the streets to call for Park’s ouster.
The embattled president faces a pivotal week, with an effort to impeach her gaining support from within her own party.
“The chances of the impeachment bill passing on December 9 are 50-50,” Woo Sang-Ho, parliamentary leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, told a party meeting on Monday.
The vote is set for Friday. If successful, it would require the approval of South Korea’s Constitutional Court, a process that experts said would take at least two months.
The opposition parties need at least 28 members from Park’s Saenuri Party to secure the two-thirds majority required for the bill to pass. At least 29 of them are believed to be planning to vote for the bill, members of the breakaway faction said.
Park is accused of colluding with her secretive confidante, Choi Soon-Sil, to strong-arm giant corporations into “donating” nearly $70 million to two dubious non-profit foundations.
Choi, who has been indicted on charges of coercion and abuse of power, is accused of syphoning some of the donated funds for personal use. She denies all criminal charges.
Choi is set to appear at the televised hearings on Wednesday, marking the first time she will answer questions in public on her role in the scandal.
Tuesday’s testimony will be devoted to interrogating the corporate tycoons, including Samsung group scion Lee Jae-Yong, Hyundai chairman Chung Mong-Koo and seven heads of other conglomerates including LG, Lotte, Hanjin and CJ.
They are among the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country, but the “Choi-gate” scandal has taken the lid off simmering public resentment over their influence and perceived sense of privilege at a time of slowing economic growth.
According to company sources cited by the largest-circulation newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, many of them have been going through frantic preparations to avoid any public humiliation, holding mock question and answer sessions with aides and memorising responses to sensitive issues.
Some researched subway and bus fares in case they are asked to prove their common-touch credentials, while others sent managers on recces to the national assembly — timing the walk to the hearing room and working out routes to avoid the press, Chosun said.
Chaebol heads are unused to being questioned or held accountable — even to their shareholders.
“It is part of the deep-rooted, twisted corporate culture in South Korea to treat founding family members as if they are royalty,” said Shim Jung-Taik, an author of several books on Samsung and its corporate culture including a biography of its ailing chairman, Lee Kun-Hee.
— AFP/Reuters
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