South Korea's parliament voted yesterday to launch a new probe into fraud allegations against presidential opposition frontrunner Lee Myung-bak two days before the country goes to the polls.
A specially appointed independent lawyer will investigate claims including share-rigging, faking documents and embezzlement against Lee, the favorite in tomorrow's election, in the wake of new video evidence.
Analysts said Lee is still expected to win the presidency, but that the affair would cloud his first months in office.
PHOTO: AP
It was unclear when the new probe would start. If elected, he would assume office on Feb. 25 and as president would have immunity from prosecution.
The business-friendly Lee, 65, was cleared on Dec. 5 of a fraud allegedly engineered by his business partner and linked to the BBK investment firm.
However, government allies accused prosecutors of bias and pushed for an independent probe.
Some 160 lawmakers voted in favor of appointing the special counsel, with none against. Lee's conservative Grand National Party (GNP) did not participate.
"The motion on appointing an independent counsel has been passed," a parliamentary official said.
Pressure to reopen the probe was spurred on Sunday with the release of a video clip recorded in 2000 in which Lee appears to say during a speech at a university that he founded BBK.
He had previously denied involvement in the firm.
The video clip came to light after police arrested three men for trying to extort 2 billion won (US$3.2 million) from the GNP in return for withholding the tape.
Lee, a 65-year-old former construction executive, is seen by many as the candidate best suited to reinvigorate the economy after years of relatively modest growth.
When the deadline for opinion polls expired last week, he was almost 30 percentage points ahead of his closest rival.
The request for a special investigator was sent to the government yesterday for approval, and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun is expected to endorse it, presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said.
Roh told his justice minister on Sunday to consider reopening the prosecution probe, an action denounced by the GNP as interference in the election.
Roh is barred by the Constitution from standing for a second five-year term. Most of his political allies are members of the newly formed UNDP.
The justice ministry side-stepped Roh's call yesterday but said it would accept any inquiry by an independent counsel.
Lee said yesterday that he made "erroneous remarks" in the university speech while he was promoting a separate new business venture. But he again denied he had owned BBK.
Opponents went for the jugular.
"As of yesterday, GNP candidate Lee Myung-bak is nothing more than a criminal," UNDP candidate Chung Dong-Young said. "He must immediately stand down."
Analysts said the GNP candidate was still expected to win.
The video "will deal a painful but not lethal blow to Lee Myung-bak," said Chun In-young, a political science professor at Seoul National University.
Chun said Lee will still likely win but will be damaged while in office by the possibility of being questioned by an independent counsel, adding: "It may be hard for him to push for strong policies in office."
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS