This article provides a list of political scandals that involve officials from the government or politicians of South Korea.
Koreagate (1976)
Koreagate is the name of a political bribery scandal revealed in 1976. It involves the Central Intelligence Agency South Korea (KCIA), Korean political figures and several U. S. congressmen. In 1971, U. S. President Richard Nixon announced his intention to withdraw U. S. troops from South Korea. The President of the Republic of Korea, Park Chung-hee, disagreed with Nixon's decision to withdraw soldiers from South Korea and felt that it was urgent to obtain support to preserve the remaining military presence of the United States. In 1976, KCIA spent millions of dollars to finance a project called Intrepid. The purpose of this program was to bring both President Nixon back on his decision and to ease the growing tensions between the two countries.
KCIA bribed some U. S. congressmen through Korean businessman Tongsun Park to seek favors and influence, for South Korean purposes.
The scandal was exposed just before the 1976 elections, leading to the failure of the "Intrepid" program. The new president, James Earl Carter Jr., had campaigned on a promise to phase out the remaining division in South Korea, and the revelation of the scandal further solidified that position. As promised, President Carter began withdrawing his troops on 13 December 1977. In 1978, congressional investigations revealed that 115 members of the Democratic Party were involved in the project, including the Speaker of the House, Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Several members subsequently resigned or were sanctioned.
President Carter finally reconsidered the U. S. military commitments in South Korea and, on 29 June 1979, suspended the withdrawal.
Gwangju massacre (1980)
In May 1980, democratic protesters were killed, wounded, and tortured by armed forces under the command of General Chun Doo-hwan, who had seized control of the government through the Coup d'état of December Twelfth of 1979. Although the government maintained that 190 people were killed in the Gwangju Uprising, unofficial estimates report up to 2,000 casualties.
Lee–Chang scandal (1982)
The Lee–Chang scandal is a South Korean financial scandal that took place in 1982 under the presidency of Chun Doo-hwan. Jang Yeong-ja was a curbside market operator who provided loans to industrial companies, demanding notes worth several times the value of the loan, provided the notes were not resold. In this way, starting with $7 million saved through the alimony of her two former husbands, Jang personally manipulated nearly $1 billion through her underground lending network, or 17 percent of the total South Korean money supply. The network was discovered when one of the companies, whose Jang notes had sold at a reduced price, complained to the authorities.
The collapse of Jang's loan network caused the bankruptcy of two large industrial companies, the resignation and arrest of the bank directors Chohung and Sanop, and the suicide of a bank manager involved in the scandal. The scandal spread as the involvement of various political figures emerged. Jang's husband, Lee Chol-hui, was a former deputy director of KCIA and a classmate of Park Chung-hee. In addition, Jang's brother-in-law, Lee Gyu-gwang, was the uncle of President Chun himself, and he was considered to have played a key role in carrying out the fraud. Eleven cabinet members resigned and four others were replaced.
Hanbo scandal (1997)
The Hanbo scandal or Hanbogate refers to the corruption involving senior South Korean government officials and top executives of Hanbo Steel conglomerate, then South Korea second biggest steelmaker and 14th biggest conglomerate. The resulting corruption scandal and trial of the first half of 1997 has been described as one of the largest ever in South Korea.
Hanbo Steel received illegal preferential treatment from the government of Korean president Kim Young Sam, including in form of loans, issued by banks to the company under pressure from bribed high ranking politicians and bankers. Losses from corruption and bribes are estimated at US$6 million.
Following a trial, by early June 1997, Chung Tae Soo, company's founder, was jailed for 15 years. His son Chung Bo Keun was jailed for 3 years. Eight other prominent figures, including former Home Minister, Kim Woo Suk, several presidential aides and parliament members, and two former presidents of the Korea First Bank, were handed sentences as well. Son of the president, Kim Hyun-chul, was also arrested in a related investigation and was sentenced to three years in October that year.