이번주 수요시사영어 기사 : 정경유착

[조국현]

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시험볼 때만 영어 공부해서, 영어가 지배하는 시대에 "영어 하수로 인생이 끝나는 아쉬움"을 겪지 마십시오.

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[한국 내용을 원어민이 영어로 쓴 글은 어휘-영작 학습에 큰 도움을 줍니다]

As Scandal Roils S. Korea, Fingers Point to Mixing of Politics and Business

SEOUL, South Korea — Jay Y. Lee, the heir apparent to the Samsung empire, was trying to push through a corporate merger seen as critical to his plans to succeed his father as chairman.

For months, key shareholders fought the move. Then, suddenly, the standoff broke as S. Korea's government-controlled pension fund, which held the shares to cast the deciding vote, endorsed Mr. Lee's deal.

A week later, President Park Geun-hye invited Mr. Lee to her office and asked for Samsung's help with a campaign to promote S. Korean culture and sports. Within months, Samsung had donated $17.4 million to two foundations controlled by the president's confidante, Choi Soon-sil, and $6.2 million for the training of Korean equestrians, including Ms. Choi's daughter.

Those donations — and whether they were part of a quid pro quo — are now at the heart of the impeachment case against Ms. Park. The nation's full Constitutional Court will begin formal hearings on Tuesday into the case, the biggest influence-peddling scandal in S. Korea's history.

The court has never before ousted a president, though seven of the last eight have left office tainted by allegations of corruption. Whatever the court decides, the Park scandal has already put recurring collusion between big business and govern- ment in S. Korea under intense scrutiny and could reshape the nation's flawed, young democracy.

“We created a miracle on the streets,” said You Jong-il, a professor of macroeconomics and development policy in Sejong City, referring to huge, peaceful street protests demanding Ms. Park's resignation. “But we are still very worried about whether we will really be able to change Korean society and Korean politics.”

Public outrage — initially aimed at the influence that Ms. Choi, the daughter of a religious sect leader, appeared to exercise over the Park administration — has turned to broader concerns about the political system: the power of the presidency, and its symbiotic relationship with the chaebol, the family-controlled conglomerates like Sam- sung that dominate the economy.

“Chaebol are accomplices!” protesters have chanted, carrying effigies of their leaders dressed in blue prison uniforms. Damning new details emerge with every week.

Prosecutors allege that Ms. Choi conspired with Ms. Park to force 53 companies to donate more than $69 million to the two foundations under Ms. Choi's control. The National Assembly went further in its impeachment motion, describing the donations as bribes personally benefiting Ms. Choi and paid in return for favors for the companies, ranging from lucrative licenses to presidential pardons.

Ms. Park has denied the charges. At an extraordinary parliamentary hearing, Mr. Lee and eight other chaebol leaders also denied receiving or seeking special treatment for the donations. But they appeared to acknowledge that the payments were not entirely voluntary.

“It was difficult to go against the govern- ment's wishes,” testified Koo Bon-moo, the chairman of LG, the multinational electron- ics company. Mr. Lee called Samsung's con- tribution “not voluntary” but “inevitable.”

The meeting with Mr. Lee was one of eight that Ms. Park held with top chaebol executives in July 2015. Her lawyers have acknowledged that she asked for contributions to the two foundations in these meetings but deny that she promised any favors. Little is known about what else was discussed in these one-on-one sessions.

The impeachment motion alleges that Ms. Park prepared for the meetings by asking her chief economic adviser, Ahn Chong-bum, for a memo outlining the issues that the chaebol needed help with.

But there is no doubt the chaebol have benefited from government support for decades.

Ms. Park's father, Park Chung-hee, the country's first military dictator, pioneered the economic model before his assassination in 1979. He showered a handful of businesses with favors such as tax benefits, cheap electricity, a buy-Korea policy and the suppression of organized labor.

These companies eventually grew into industrial conglomerates, fueling the export-driven growth that lifted S. Korea out of postwar poverty and made it one of the world's most dynamic economies.

Some of the firms, like Samsung, Hyundai and LG, are now global brands with publicly listed shares. But the founding families still dominate almost all the conglomerates, in part, critics say, because of lax enforcement of corporate governance and tax laws.

In return for their support, Park and many of his successors as president expected the chaebol to contribute to government projects. And the chaebol did more than that, some-times channeling money to the presidents' personal coffers or those of their relatives and associates.

S. Koreans are increasingly skeptical of the chaebol and the economic model they represent. The country's largest shipping line, Hanjin, recently filed for bankruptcy. Samsung, the icon of S. Korean technolo- gical prowess, suffered global humiliation with its recent recall of exploding Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.

The chaebol also face competition from China, which has begun producing many of the same goods, like petrochemicals, more cheaply. Some have angered the public by shifting manufacturing abroad even as their tentacle-like grip on the economy at home is blamed for squeezing start-ups and stifling innovation.

Yet the conglomerates still enjoy some of the benefits that Park Chung-hee conferred on them more than four decades ago. They are taxed at lower effective rates than most companies or individuals, and receive more tax breaks. Businesses also pay lower electricity rates than individual consumers in S. Korea.

The benefits of such policies, Professor You said, “is a very different order of magnitude compared to the sums of money that were donated to the foundations.”

“All decisions are made with the interests of the chaebol in mind,” he added of policy-making in recent decades. Politicians and the chaebol, he said, “have been relying on each other to maintain their power.”

Few S. Koreans believe the chaebol are innocent victims in the unfolding case. But while Ms. Choi and Mr. Ahn, the president's economic adviser, have been arrested, the authorities have not taken action against executives at any of the businesses.

Historically, the chaebol titans have not been immune from prosecution. On the contrary, several have been convicted of bribery, tax evasion and embezzlement — yet remained at the helm of their businesses.

That is because they are often granted suspended sentences or presidential pardons. At least six of the nation's top 10 chaebol, which generate revenue equivalent to more than 80 percent of gross domestic product, are led by men with criminal records.

Since taking office in 2013, Ms. Park has granted two such pardons. Choi Tae-won, chairman of the SK Group, which spans chemicals, petroleum, telecommunications and semiconductors, received one in the summer of 2015. The other went this past summer to Lee Jae-hyun, the chairman of the CJ Group, which comprises businesses in foods, pharmaceuticals, entertainment and media.