SEOUL June 16 Kyodo Special prose...

SEOUL June 16 Kyodo

Special prosecutors send fored former President Kim Dae Jung's closest aide Park Jie Won onward Monday to question him above allegations the 2000 inter-Korean summit was bought

The questioning will focus forward whether cash payment to North Korea was discussed when he made covert contact with North Korean officials to arrange the Korean summit held in June 2000 local reports quot sources as saying.

Park will also be questioned as to whether he exercised his influence forward a state-run bank to provide the Hyundai Business collection with massive loans to be sent to the North.

The Hyundai Business form into groups admitted earlier this year it had agreed with North Korea to despatch $500 million to obtain the exclusive right to launch businesses, covering mainly tourism and establishing an industrial park.

Opposition leaders alleged the payment was a bribe to North Korea to agree to the unprecedent summit because the financial transfer was made shortly before the summit began in Pyongyang forward June 13.

beneath South Korean law, secret payment to North Korea is illegal because the North is southern Korea's ''primary enemy.''

When the scandal surfaced early this year, then President Kim acknowledged the cash payment to the North and appealed for public understanding that the payment was emergencyed to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.

President Roh Moo Hyun who took throughout the presidency from Kim in February this year, approved a parliamentary asking in March to form an independent caution to conduct a full probe into the cash-for-summit scandal.

Last month Kim's chief secretary for economic affairs, leeward Ki Ho, was arrested through the counsel for allegedly exercising his influence upon a state-run bank to prolong loans to the Hyundai Business form into groups to be sent to the North.

Kim signifyed deep regret over the questioning of his top aides in connection with the hid cash transfer.

''I still believe the riches transaction cannot be the intention of judiciary scrutiny,'' Kim said during a television interview Sunday. ''It is heartbreaking to view the people who devoted themselves to the nation and economy make subordinate to legal punishment although they are not involved in irregularities.''

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