Son of S. Korean President Cleared in Bribery Scandal

South Korean prosecutors Saturday cleared a son of President Kim Young Sam of any wrongdoing in a massive financial scandal involving nearly $6 billion in questionable loans to the Hanbo business group.

Kim Hyon Chol had been the focus of public suspicion that he pressured reluctant bankers to make the loans to the ailing Hanbo Iron & Steel Co., South Korea’s second-largest steelmaker, which declared bankruptcy last month.

The bankruptcy triggered speculation about high-level political corruption after media reports that the astronomical loans were made in apparent violation of lending limit rules and against the recommendations of banking staff members.

But the senior prosecutor, Choi Byong Koog, said he found no evidence to challenge the younger Kim’s denials of wrongdoing or to back up charges by opposition members that he shared close ties with the son of Hanbo founder Chung Tai Soo.

Kim told prosecutors that he had met Chung’s son only a few times on social occasions, Choi said.

Choi also said Hanbo Group’s purchase of 10,000 copies of the younger Kim’s book--”Tales I Want to Tell, Tales I Want to Hear”--was not unusual because most conglomerates bought the book.

The 37-year-old Kim offered an emotional apology before leaving the prosecutor’s office.

“I am very sorry for inadvertently causing anxiety to the people and my father,” he said.

Prosecutors have virtually wrapped up their Hanbo investigation after the indictment last week of 10 people on bribery charges, including three of the president’s political allies. They are investigating criminal libel charges filed by Kim Hyon Chol against six opposition legislators who accused him of being deeply involved in bankrolling the Hanbo conglomerate.

But public suspicion that the probe has been a whitewash is widespread. Recent polls have indicated that nearly two-thirds of South Koreans believe that Kim Hyon Chol was involved in arranging the loans.

One poll indicated that 79.4% of those surveyed believe that prosecutors failed to nab the real culprit behind the scandal, which has badly tainted the legacy President Kim has sought to build as South Korea’s bold anti-corruption crusader.

Opposition members renewed demands that the younger Kim appear as a witness at a National Assembly committee hearing on the Hanbo scandal and that the government appoint a special prosecutor to conduct an impartial investigation.

They also criticized Kim’s reported plans to send his son into overseas exile as an act of contrition for stirring up public distrust.