|
An official at the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the business owner association, claimed that top chaebol groups in the country pooled a total of W19.7 billion in funds to lure the 2002 FIFA World Cup to Korea.
Lee Byong-uk, the head of FKI's planning team, wrote an article on the association's home page, saying that the association collected the fund from 14 business groups in the nation, with W3 billion each from the top three groups, including Samsung, Hyundai and LG, in June 1996, prior to the FIFA's decision on which country would host the soccer event in 2002.
Lee also said that SK, Daewoo and POSCO each contributed W2.4 billion, followed by W700 million from Ssangyong and W650 million from Hanjin and Lotte each.
Observers said the funds collected from the chaebols appear to have been used to lobby high-ranking officials of soccer associations from various countries.
Meanwhile, sources also said that the federation collected a total of W12 billion in funds from large firms in the country and passed them to a committee that will invite the 2010 World Exposition to Yeosu, a port city along the south coast of Korea.
(Choi Hong-sup, hschoi@chosun.com )
|
