(EDITORIAL from the Korea Herald on Dec. 5)

Time to ask Han

With the fresh testimony that the former National Tax Service chief Han Sang-ryul
had bought the artwork which he is alleged to have given to his boss, former NTS
chief Jeon Goon-pyo, as a bribe to get a promotion, the prosecutors' office
should seek Han's extradition from the United States without further delay.

The prosecutors said that they had obtained a statement from an NTS official that
Han had bought the painting in question. During a press conference in New York
last week, which Han himself called, Han denied that he had bought the painting.
When the scandal first broke, he said he had never seen the painting.
Han stepped down from his post in January after news reports said that his wife
gave an expensive painting to Jeon's wife. Jeon's wife had said in January that
the Han had given them a painting in early 2007. Han was named NTS head in
November 2007. Incidentally, Jeon was sentenced to three and a half years in jail
in December 2008 for receiving 70 million won and $10,000 in bribes from a fellow
NTS official. Hong Hye-gyeong, the owner of Gain Gallery, who was asked to sell
the painting on the Jeons' behalf in October 2008, said that she discovered that
the painting had originally come from Han while filling out paperwork.
In the increasingly complex web of briberies within the NTS, Hong, the wife of
Ahn Won-goo, a former senior NTS official arrested last month for involvement in
a separate bribery scandal - he is alleged to have asked several companies under
tax probe to buy artworks from his wife's gallery - claims that Han had asked Ahn
for 300 million won in return for helping him get promoted. Ahn refused to give
the money, Hong said.
According to Ahn's testimony, Han had told Ahn at the time that he was trying to
raise 1 billion won in secret funds to be delivered to a powerful ruling party
figure. Ahn also said that he met with the Grand National Party lawmaker Lee
Sang-deuk, President Lee Myung-bak's brother, twice last year to put in a good
word for Han. Han, who was appointed to the chief NTS post during the Roh
Moo-hyun administration wanted to stay on at the post even after the inauguration
of the Lee administration, Ahn said.
Han made clear during last week's press meeting that he does not plan to return
to Korea now. The prosecutors' office which has been dragging its feet in getting
Han to return to Seoul has no more excuses for further delay. The allegations
regarding Han's bribery first surfaced in January but the prosecutors' office did
not start investigations until an NGO brought the case to their attention. In the
meantime, Han left for the United States in March and the investigation stalled.
The probe into Han was only reluctantly restarted after Ahn made the new
allegations.
It is time for Han to face questions concerning his role in the alleged painting
bribery, answer to the allegations that he tried to raise 1 billion won in a
secret fund and that he lobbied to keep his post after the change of
administration. The prosecutors' office should seek Han's quick extradition.
(END)

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