A close aide to former National Intelligence Service Economic Bureau head Kim Eun-seong, currently under arrest on corruption charges related to the Jin Seung-hyun scandal, said Friday that Kim warned ruling party members and government officials to give up the rights to purchase apartments they had acquired illegally last year, in order to prevent a scandal. The 1,800 luxury apartment complex and commercial zone named Park View is currently being built by H1 Construction in Bundang, near Seoul.
Kim allegedly used hackers to gain access to H1's database and acquired the names of 130 high level officials, including prosecutors and judges and Millennium Democratic Party members who had gained the purchasing rights as "special benefits." Civic action groups in the area disclosed the scandal last March.
H1 denied the claim and said no favors were given and nobody had given up their rights to purchase, although prosecutors are to investigate the affair.
(Bang Seung-soo, ssbang@chosun.com)
