Audit planned for Jeongsu Foundation

Rep. Park Geun-hye

The Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation, which some suspect is controlled by Rep. Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party, will undergo an audit by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) later this month.

Although officials say that the audit is scheduled, coming after the last one in 2005, attention is focused on what the results will be. Park, a leading candidate hopeful of the conservative camp for the Dec. 19 presidential election, served as its chairwoman of the board of directors for 10 years until 2005.

The education office is led by Kwak No-hyun, a liberal who is promoting a sweeping liberal agenda in the capital’s education system that the conservative party opposes.

“Questions have been raised about the Jeongsu Foundation, but we haven’t inspected it since 2005, so we decided to do it this year,” an official said.

Ostensibly, the SMOE is intending to check on what it sees as the excessive salary paid to its president. However, the opposition parties are paying keen attention, with some claiming that the foundation is one of the few “Achilles’ heels” that can spoil Park’s presidential bid.

The official explained, “Among 1,120 foundations registered with the office, we select dozens for audits every year. We are not just targeting Jeongsu, as this is part of a regular inspection.”

The foundation has been run by aides and family members of the late President Park Chung-hee. It is now headed by Philip Choi, a former secretary of the late President.

Jeongsu is the successor to the Buil Scholarship Foundation founded in 1958 by Busan-based businessman Kim Ji-tae.

Reports claim that Kim was forced to “donate” the foundation to the state in 1962 in a behind-the-scenes deal with the Park junta to avoid charges of illegal wealth accumulation and being severely punished.

Opposition parties and civic groups have demanded that the foundation be returned to its original owner, saying the government stole it from Kim.

In 2005, a blue-ribbon commission concluded the “donation” was coerced.

Park claims that this has nothing to do with her as she left the board and the foundation is already a public asset.

In February, the National Union of Media Workers asked the educational office to audit the foundation, claiming Choi’s salary was too high.

“In the 2005 inspection, the office said the foundation was overpaying then-chief board director Park. But the annual salary for Choi in 2010 was 170 million won, which was even higher than Park’s,” the union said.

Regarding the issue, the office will look into whether the salary was set properly. In February, related laws were revised to limit the annual salary of a foundation executive to 80 million won.

“The inspection usually takes a month. If there is any illegality found, we will take appropriate measures,” the SMOE official said.

The Jeongsu foundation has a 100-percent stake in the Busan Daily and a 30-percent stake in MBC. Unionists of the newspaper have walked out in protest of the foundation’s alleged intervention in its editorial policy.

The education office said it will look into the operation of the foundation, including scholarship payments, accounting records, asset management and the salaries of its board members. <The Korea Times/Kim Rahn>

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