By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

The prosecution requested arrest warrants on Friday for Rep. Park Joo-cheon of the Grand National Party (GNP) and Rep. Lee Hoon-pyung of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) on charges of taking bribes from Hyundai Group in 2000.

Park allegedly helped prevent the late Hyundai Asan chairman Chung Mong-hun from having to testify in a parliamentary inspection on the company’s secret cash transfer to North Korea in return for 50 million won in September 2000. Park was then serving as chairman of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee.

Lee, an aide to former President Kim Dae-jung, used his influence to have two subcontract construction firms acquire lucrative projects carried out by Hyundai Engineering & Construction in November 2000, according to prosecutors.

In addition, the prosecution also brought bribery charges to Rep. Park Joo-sun of the MDP. He faces arrest for his involvement in a separate bribery case involving now-defunct Nara Investment Banking Corp.

The decision on the three lawmakers brings the number of lawmakers awaiting parliamentary approval for arrest to six, including Reps. Chyung Dai-chul, Park Myung-hwan and Park Jae-wook, all facing bribery charges. The law prohibits the prosecution from detaining sitting lawmakers without parliamentary approval.

In addition, the prosecution said it had decided to indict another GNP lawmaker Lim Jin-chool without physical detention, also on charges of taking bribes from Hyundai.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr