Prosecutors said to confirm illegal payoff by Seoul's education chief

SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors said Monday they have secured a statement from a local professor under investigation saying that he received a huge amount of money from Seoul's embattled school superintendent in return for stepping down as a candidate in last year's election for the post.
The Seoul prosecution has been investigating allegations that Kwak No-hyun, who was elected as the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education in June last year, gave 200 million won (US$184,000) earlier this year to Park Myoung-gee, a professor at Seoul National University of Education, in return for his withdrawal from the race.
Kwak, during a news conference on Sunday, admitted that he gave Park the money with "good will" as the depressed professor was suffering from heavy debts after the election. He denied allegations that it was a reward for Park's decision to quit the race.
However, prosecutors said Park stated during an interrogation that Kwak promised to give him a certain amount of money in exchange for withdrawing his candidacy during the negotiating process for choosing a single candidate for the opposition bloc.
Park initially demanded 700 million won but ended up receiving 200 million won, according to prosecution officials.
The demanded amount was far more than the 500 million to 600 million won he is believed to have spent on the election until he resigned two weeks before the election day.
After the professor's statement supported their suspicions that 200 million won is too much to be seen as a "good will" gesture, prosecutors said they planned to question those involved in the money transmission and summon the education chief within the week.
But it was confirmed that the two sides didn't sign a contract for the exchange, prosecutors said.



sshim@yna.co.kr