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S. Korea to push for political reform after PM's resignation

Xinhua, April 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korean President Park Geun- hye said Tuesday that she would push for an overall political reform in the political arena, a day after Prime Minister Lee Wan- koo stepped down on suspicion over his involvement in bribery scandal.

The presidential press secretary, read a statement for President Park, who is suffering from stomachache and high fever after a 12-day visit to Latin America, saying that political reform and new political culture should be formed by getting to the bottom of how bribe-taking has been rampant in the country's political arena.

Park said that the corruption structure, rooted in the political arena through hometown and school connections, and private relationship, should be eliminated to build a new political culture.

Park's statement came a day after Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo resigned as the country's second-highest administrative post amid growing allegations that he was involved in taking bribes from a businessman who killed himself earlier this month.

Sung Wan-jong, a former ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker and chairman of the now-bankrupt construction company, hanged himself on April 9, leaving a brief memo that lists eight heavyweight politicians alongside currency figures, indicating that the sum of money was delivered to those politicians.

President Park stressed that whoever is involved in the corruption will never be tolerated, saying that corruptions and illegalities that have descended from the past should be eliminated to make the politics reborn as a new one.

Park pointed out the special presidential pardoning of Sung twice under late President Roh Moo-hyun from 2003 to 2007, indicating a broader probe into any politicians, including close aides to Park as well as lawmakers of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.

Close aides to former President Lee Myunb-bak are highly likely to be under prosecutors' investigation as Sung's death came amid the prosecution's probe into the so-called energy diplomacy advocated during Lee's presidency. Endi