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Kim Kyung-joon, a key suspect in a stock manipulation fraud scandal involving a company called BBK, recently dropped his appeal to a U.S. federal court in which he had applied for protection against extradition to Korea. In other words, he is willing to come home. Kim siphoned off around W38 billion of the company¡¯s money to the U.S. and forged a passport to flee to America when he was banned from leaving the country in 2001 on fraud charges.
The reason Kim¡¯s extradition has become a political issue is because Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak had in the past joined hands to start a business with the man. Lee provided the capital to start the business but ended up filing charges against Kim. But the ruling camp is still raising suspicions that Lee may have had a role in the stock fraud scandal. The ruling camp is waiting for Kim to return to Korea and offer testimony that can undermine Lee¡¯s position.
Regarding Kim¡¯s extradition, Lee said the man should come back quickly to face a court of law for having run off with other people¡¯s money. But Lee¡¯s lawyers have reportedly filed a request in a U.S. court to delay the withdrawal of Kim¡¯s appeal until they finish questioning him. It is only natural for suspicions to arise that Lee has been publicly urging the speedy return of Kim but secretly has been working for the opposite.
It is not difficult to guess why Kim has dropped his three-year appeal and finally decided to return to Korea just before the presidential election. He would have had to return to Korea sooner or later under a bilateral extradition treaty and would lose his leverage in negotiations if he returned after the presidential elections. There could be forces who are prodding Kim from behind the scenes.
If the claims Kim makes after returning to Korea are false, then Lee can seek the judgment of the Korean public after offering them an explanation. As Lee said himself, there are people who want Kim Kyung-joon may become the second Kim Dae-up - whose false claims swung the election of Roh moo-hyun -- but this will not happen: the Korean public will no longer fall easy prey to such dubious muckraking. Koreans know that Kim is a forger and has been accused of fraud and stock price manipulation.
And from that perspective, it seems undignified for Lee¡¯s lawyers to file a request to delay Kim¡¯s extradition. Lee¡¯s camp said the civil suit against Kim will soon be over after final questioning by plaintiff¡¯s attorney and that the trial can open right away and questioning will take only two to three days. But considering that this is a politically sensitive case, this explanation still leaves question marks. Lee must behave sincerely in line with his demands that Kim return to Korea quickly.
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