Female arms dealer mired in shame

Linda Kim is on the news again. The Korean-American arms dealer was convicted for the allegation that she leaked military secrets and handed over bribes while having an inappropriate relationship with the then defense minister. It is not a corruption charge this time but fraud and violence charges. She allegedly beat the creditor after she failed to pay 50 million won (40,670 U.S. dollars), which she borrowed for gambling in December last year.

Prosecutors will find out facts during their investigation, but what is notable in the plaintiff’s claims is that Linda Kim said over the phone in a hotel room on the first day when the plaintiff met Kim, “Hey, Gen. Kwon, don’t play dirty. This weapon is…” A day before the day that she promised to pay the money back, she said, “I've lost 150 million won (122,000 dollars) at the casino. I am supposed to receive 30 billion to 40 billion won (24.4 million to 32.5 million dollars) for the tanker contract. If you give me another 50 million won (40,670 won), I’ll give you one billion won (813,000 dollars) back. She even said, “If you had been a soldier, I’d have killed you.”

The “tanker” project, which Kim mentioned, would probably mean “Airbus A330 MRTT,” which became a hot potato six months ago because the Air Forces chose a European brand over an American one for the first time since its foundation. Immediately after the European brand was selected over the U.S. brand (Boeing KC-46A) in the 1.4 trillion won (1.14 billion-dollar) market, media said, “As investigations into the corruptions of defense acquisition programs are still going on, we believe the selection process would have been fairer than ever. It was a reasonable choice both in terms of quality and price and also diversified our weapons portfolio, which had been dominated by those made by the U.S.”

Kim was taken over by airport police for allegedly smoking in the toilet of a plane in April 2008, and was prosecuted last year by her house cleaner in the U.S. for not paying her salary. Given her past, her words are not completely trustworthy. But it raises suspicions because she was the person who received a love letter from a defense minister. This might herald the return of the Siren who attracted the military leadership with her beauty, which is sad.

허문명국제부장 angelhuh@donga.com