Ex-Leader of S. Korea Defends Slush Fund

Former South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan, appearing in court Monday on charges of accepting $282 million in bribes during his eight-year term in office, testified that he used his huge slush fund for political goals, not private gain.

While acknowledging that his political fund-raising and spending during his 1980-88 term broke the law, Chun argued that it was an accepted practice that continues today.

“It is an open secret that in the April 11 legislative elections, candidates spent 1 to 2 billion won [$1.3 million to $2.6 million] in campaigning, well above the legal spending limit of 81 million won [$105,000],” Chun said. “They have been assisted with political funds, the same as in my case.”

Speaking mainly in response to questions by his own defense attorney, Chun gave the most detailed account yet provided of how he used his $900-million slush fund. “I used none of it for private purposes,” he told the court.

Prosecutors, however, told the court they confiscated $45 million of Chun’s hidden assets, including $7.9 million found in fruit crates at a cement company in March.

Chun, wearing a light-blue prison uniform and white rubber shoes, testified that he spent about $254 million to bankroll the 1987 presidential campaign of his successor, Roh Tae Woo, who has also been jailed and faces trial on corruption charges. Chun and Roh, both former generals, are also being tried on sedition charges stemming from a 1979 mutiny and the 1980 martial-law crackdown that helped put Chun in power.

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Chun said that during his term in office, he provided about $26 million annually to the ruling party and the same amount annually to social welfare organizations. He spent a total of $142 million on legislative elections in 1981, 1985 and 1988, he testified.

After a decision was made under public pressure in 1987 that his successor should be chosen in a direct presidential election, funds were used to persuade opponents of the country’s democratization to drop their objections, he said. This continued until 1989, he testified.

“I had no choice but to promise to help finance the [1987] election,” Chun testified. “We had to accept the public outcry for constitutional revision in favor of a direct voting system [for president].”

After leaving office in 1988--and upon learning of Roh’s plan to force him into exile in Switzerland--he spent $100 million trying to reconstitute a party that would be loyal to him, he said.

Under prosecution questioning, Chun said he gave a total of about $64 million to about 200 politicians. He refused to provide any names or details on the grounds that to do so would “create political chaos.”

Chun said he managed his political funds himself in order to prevent corruption among his aides.

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Chun’s defense lawyer argued that the bribery charges against the former president are too broad and vague, and he urged that they be rejected. If convicted of bribery, Chun could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Outside the courtroom, prosecutors told reporters that Chun still held $180 million when he left office, that he put this money into high-interest-yielding investments and that the sum had grown to $274 million by 1992.

Chi Jung Nam of The Times’ Seoul Bureau contributed to this report.