Uri Party lawmakers Moon Hee-sang and Shin Ki-nam and the opposition Grand National Party¡¯s Kang Jae-sup took large contributions from companies that issued the gift certificates gamblers win in lieu of money for video game arcades like ¡°Sea Story,¡± the Chosun Ilbo has learned. The major shareholders and key executives of 19 businesses designated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for the gift certificate program appear on a list of supporters who made large contributions to politicians between 2004 and 2005 obtained from the National Election Commission.
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A man stands in line to exchange winnings in the form of gift certificates into cash in front of a shop in Youngeungpo, Seoul on Sunday afternoon.
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Moon in February received W3 million (US$1=W957) in campaign contributions from the CEO of Ticketlink, a firm included in the gift certificate program two months later. He was Uri Party chairman in July 2005, when the Culture Ministry changed its policy on the gift certificates from de-facto blanket approval to selection. Uri Party spokesman Woo Sang-ho also received W3 million in funds from the same firm in April last year. Woo is a member of the Culture and Tourism Committee in the National Assembly, which scrutinizes bills related to the game industry.
Former Uri Party chairman Shin got W5 million from the CEO of Sammi Corporation, which was also included in the program, in February last year. The major shareholder of Sammi also contributed W3 million to the GNP¡¯s Kang Jae-sup in June last year and W5 million to Kang¡¯s party mate Kim Jung-hoon in October 2004. Sammi posted W1.712 billion in losses last year but declared W3 billion in net income in the first half of this year after being picked for the gift certificate program this March. The Uri Party¡¯s Yoo Ki-hong received altogether W1.6 million on 13 occasions last year from a former head of Korea Culture Promotion, which is in charge of issuing cultural gift certificates. The GNP¡¯s Lee Kei-kyung took W5 million from the current head of the KCP last December.
Supporters can make contributions up to W20 million to politicians per year and up to W5 million per politician. The NEC annually discloses a list of people who made more than W1.2 million in contributions.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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