Parliament to question officials from pension service on scandal

SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's ruling and opposition parties on Monday agreed to question officials from the National Pension Service (NPS) amid allegations that the presidential office exerted influence on the country's top institutional investors to back Samsung Group's merger deal. The move came after parliament earlier decided to summon top officials from major conglomerates to investigate their connection to Choi Soon-sil, a long-time confidante of President Park Geun-hye who exerted influence on state affairs, controlling the business and cultural realms. Choi Kwang, a former chairman of the board of the NPS, and Hong Wan-sun, a former head of the fund operation division will be questioned. The decision will be officially adopted on Tuesday. Political parties also agreed to summon one of the top Samsung executives and a former director of the national equestrian team for questioning. Last year, South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group merged two of its affiliates despite opposition from overseas investors. The NPS, which held an 11.6-percent stake in then-Samsung C&T Corp. and a 5-percent stake in Cheil Industries Inc., supported Samsung despite the risks. It has been discovered that the conglomerate later provided favors to Choi and her daughter. Prosecutors suspect that Samsung injected around US$3 million to a Germany-based company owned by Choi and her daughter Chung Yoo-ra. South Korea's opposition parties, meanwhile, also agreed to put the impeachment motion on President Park Geun-hye up for vote by end of this week, although this can be delayed depending on actions taken by the ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers. During the meeting of the three opposition parties, participants agreed to put the motion up for vote on Friday. The parties earlier said the motion should be passed no later than Dec. 9. According to the draft of the impeachment motion, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea decided to include bribery allegations against major conglomerates, including Samsung, SK and Lotte. The opposition parties are expected to come up with a unified impeachment motion on Tuesday. The parties also said they will propose candidates for an independent counsel that will investigate the scandal. Of the two to be recommended, one will be tapped by the president. While a group of Saenuri lawmakers have been supporting the impeachment, the party, led by the so-called Park loyalists, has decided not to join the motion. Even among those that said they will vote for the impeachment, there are differing views in regards to the timing. A successful passage calls for the approval of at least 200 lawmakers in the 300-seat National Assembly. Accordingly, at least 28 members from Saenuri must support the motion, even if every opposition and independent lawmakers decides to vote against Park. colin@yna.co.kr (END)