Seoul education chief grilled over suspected bribery of rival candidate

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SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- Kwak No-hyun, the embattled Seoul education chief, was grilled by prosecutors on Monday over suspicions that he bribed a rival candidate to get him to drop out of last year's election for the post, but Kwak strongly denied the charges, prosecutors said.
Arriving at the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul at 11 a.m., Kwak flanked by his lawyer posed for cameras but refused to respond to a flood of questions from reporters.



Investigators said they will let Kwak return home before midnight and seek an arrest warrant for him on Wednesay after summoning him once more on Tuesday.
Kwak, the elected superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, is suspected of giving 200 million won (US$187,160) early this year to Park Myoung-gee, a college professor and rival candidate from the same liberal bloc during the 2010 election for the education superintendent position. Kwak had allegedly pledged a total of 700 million won in return for Park's withdrawal from the race.
Kwak has already admitted to giving Park the money, but he insisted that it was not given in exchange for any election deal as prosecutors suspect. He said it was only given as a gesture of "good will" for Park who was suffering from heavy debts due to the election campaign.
The prosecutors quizzed Kwak about whether the 200 million won paid to Park was related to his exit from last year's election and how Kwak raised the money, which was delivered in four installments from February to April.
Kwak persistently claimed his innocence during the questioning, saying "The money was given only after (I) learned that Park was in a desperate need," according to prosecutors.
Kwak will be stripped of his post if he is convicted of buying off his rival candidate, a violation of the current election law, and punished with a fine of more than 1 million won.
"I will reveal the truth about my goodwill intention, as it was distorted as a crime," Kwak told reporters at his office in central Seoul before heading to the prosecution. "I am sorry for worrying so many people."
A local newspaper reported that Park paid several visits to Kwak last year to press the official to promptly pay the money, a piece of news that is expected to support prosecutors' suspicion that Kwak himself was responsible for the secret deal.
"Kwak was surprised by my remarks and tried to catch me, but I just left his education superintendent office. I cannot forgive him for trying to ignore (his promise of money)," the Chosun Ilbo, one of the country's leading newspapers, quoted Park as having told a close friend.
"Although I might face a blow (from revealing the deal), I can (socially) bury Kwak," Park was reported as saying.
The widening election scandal came as a setback to the Seoul education chief, who secured a victory against the conservative bloc last month. The conservatives had strongly opposed a free school lunch plan for all students that Kwak supported.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon resigned last month after losing a Seoul referendum on the free school lunch program, which he denounced as a populist welfare program.