Ex-presidential aide arrested in Hyundai inquiry

The right-hand man of former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung has been arrested on charges of taking kickbacks from the Hyundai Group, prosecutors said yesterday.

Kwon Roh-kap, one of Kim's close confidants, was arrested late Monday after being brought to a prosecutors office in Seoul for questioning, the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office said.

Kwon, 73, is suspected of taking billions of won from Hyundai in 2000, it said.

He became the first figure to be arrested by prosecutors who have investigated allegations that Hyundai lobbied politicians and government officials to keep afloat its troubled business in North Korea.

Prosecutors to give details but newspapers said investigators had traced Kwon's bank accounts, based on the testimony of Hyundai executive Chung Mong-hun and other Hyundai officials.

Chung, chairman of Hyundai Asan established by the Hyundai group to conduct projects in North Korea, jumped to his death from his 12th-floor office last week after being probed for making illicit payments to North Korea.

Chung been one of the key figures standing trial in connection with Hyundai's transfer of US$500 million to North Korea just before an inter-Korean summit in 2000.

The fifth son of Hyundai's late founder Chung Ju-yung told prosecutors that the payment was for Hyundai's monopoly rights to tours and other various projects in North Korea.

But an independent council concluded in June that US$100 million was paid by the government in return for the summit, which helped Kim win the Nobel Peace Prize.

It still remains unclear why Chung committed suicide but aides have said he had been put under pressure by business losses in North Korea.

Hyundai Asan played a lead role in opening inter-Korean exchanges.

But the company's projects in North Korea proved major loss makers, emptying its coffers while exposing the company and Chung to attacks from conservative groups opposed to the so-called appeasement of North Korea.