Political Video Gambling Links Probed

Some argue that political pressure and lobbying played a major role in selecting companies to produce gift certificates used for gambling houses, including “Sea Story.”

A working level staff in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said, “Lobbying played a role,” and then reversed his opinion.

Manager Kim, the head of the working level staff of the ministry, reportedly said, “Staff in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism were overwhelmed by political pressure,” in his testimony to the prosecution early this year.

According to the Supreme Public Prosecutor`s Office that obtained intelligence about the scandal first, and the Seoul East District Prosecutor’s Office that investigated the incident from last December and this February, Manager Kim testified that the Ministry was so bombarded by phone calls that asked favors in relation to selecting gift certificate providers from both ruling and opposition party politicians that they couldn’t help but turning off the telephone line.

The prosecution’s investigation targeted manager Kim and other staff of the Ministry of Culture, Head of the Korea Game Development and Promotion Institute, a member of the Korea Media Rating Board, and all former lawmakers who were members of the Culture and Tourism Committee.

An official from the Prosecutor’s office said, “There was a rumor that a Cheong Wa Dae official was involved. But I don’t remember who.”

At that time, the Prosecution arrested Mr. Kil (56 years old), the head of Cyrex, a gift certificate provider, on a charge of producing 550,000 more certificates than the legally permitted ceiling of 7,200,000, which the Seoul Guarantee Insurance Co. guaranteed.

However, Manager Kim denied that he testified as such in an interview with this newspaper on August 21. He said, “In March last year, when voucher providers were selected, some people posted articles on the website of the Ministry of Culture, saying, ‘There is a disqualified company that was selected’ or ‘The process was not legitimate.’ After that, the National Assembly went into an investigation and asked our ministry to send in related documents. It is a false report that I got a phone call from a lawmaker.”

“Former democracy activists or so-called ‘386 generation’” asked for kickbacks-

Some people reportedly testified that politicians from so-called “386 generation” asked voucher providers for bribes in exchange for helping them getting a contract.

Mr. B of a voucher company A was interviewed by this newspaper on August 21 and said, “A guy from sports institute S suggested that he would help A get a contract in return for 200 million won on a cell-phone call last March.”

This newspaper revealed after investigative efforts that S was owned by former democracy activists, who are friends of some ruling party members.

B said, “We made a promise that we would pay money to S when only five companies including mine get contracts. But eventually last March as many as 22 companies landed contracts. So we didn’t pay.”

Company A had his license cancelled amid controversy surrounding contractor selecting process and now not a designated provider.

The Ministry of Culture did not meddle in the Korea Media Rating Board-

Then Minister of Culture Jung Dong-chae, currently a ruling Uri Party member, said on August 21, “The Ministry did not and could not meddle in the Korea Media Rating Board, an independent body.”

He said so in a press conference held by the National Assembly and denied allegations that former vice Minister Yoo Jin-ryong requested to delay rating process for “the Sea Story,” citing that the game machine was turned out to be a virtual gambling machine during the deliberation process of the Korea Media Rating Board.

The former minister Jung added, “What really happened was that the Ministry sent requests five times from February to May 2004 that the Korea Media Rating Board re-examine those gambling machines.

When he was asked whether he thinks he is accountable for gambling machines being widely distributed, he said, “Before January 2001, game arcades had to get license to run a business. But since then, game arcades can start a business by simply registering. I think we should wait until the Board of Audit and Inspection finish its job before saying I am accountable or not.”