SOUTH KOREA

Group Gives Up Phone Contract Over Nepotism Charges: A South Korean consortium that includes GTE Corp. gave up a lucrative mobile phone contract last week after being accused of winning it through family ties with President Roh Tae-woo. Sohn Kil-seung of the Sunkyong group maintained that the consortium led by his conglomerate won the contract fairly but conceded that social turmoil had been triggered by the government’s decision. Sunkyong gave up the multibillion-dollar license “to contribute to national consensus,” Sohn said. Opposition parties and other critics blasted the contract award because Roh’s only daughter is married to a son of Sunkyong’s chairman. Five other groups had vied with the Sunkyong consortium to become the nation’s first private operator of mobile phones. The business, currently monopolized by a state-owned company, is expected to generate sales of $3 billion by the year 2000.