by kim rahn
staff reporter

former president roh moo-hyun admitted tuesday that he received money from taekwang ceo park yeon-cha in order to ``repay a debt.''''

on his web site, the former president said that he was ready to face questioning from prosecutors and if necessary, to accept legal responsibility.

``i''m sorry for raising public concern regarding the money issue involving my aides and me. my former secretary chung sang-moon was arrested for accepting a bribe, but he failed to say he borrowed the money on behalf of my wife kwon yang-sook. the charge should not be laid against him, but against my family,'''' roh said.
``my wife asked chung to borrow money from park as we had a debt to pay. i''ll talk about it in detail when the prosecution summons me, and i am ready face legal punishment,'''' he added.

the former president also apologized for the money transaction between park and the husband of his niece. ``i learned about the deal after i left the presidency, but did not take any action because it was a legal investment as far as i knew,'''' he said.

the statement came after investigators detained chung at his home in southern seoul after raiding there and his office in the morning. he was just one of roh''s former aides and supporters, who are being apprehended or summoned in droves for questioning over the bribery scandal surrounding park.

chung, 63, is suspected of having received hundreds of millions of won from park between 2005 and 2006 when he was working at cheong wa dae. he was questioned over why he took the money and whether park sought his influence.

it has been alleged that chung introduced park to yeon cheol-ho, the husband of roh''s niece, whom the tycoon later offered money to. park wired $5 million to yeon through a foreign bank account in february last year, just weeks before roh''s five-year presidency ended. the money was from the account of apc, a paper company park set up in hong kong.

yeon is likely to be questioned soon but claims park invested in his business, denying he accepted a bribe.

prosecutors also sought an arrest warrant for changshin textile chairman kang keum-won, one of roh''s strongest supporter, for diverting 10 billion won from his company to invest in a project in the former president''s hometown.

chung allegedly met park and kang in august 2007 to discuss the establishment of a foundation for roh.

park said that in the meeting, he told them that they could use $5 million from the slush fund he kept in hong kong to establish the foundation. about a month after the meeting, kang set up a company with seven billion won for the development of bongha village in south gyeongsang province, where roh lives in retirement.

the prosecution also summoned former national assembly speaker park kwan-yong for the second consecutive day for his alleged taking of 100 million won from the taekwang ceo in april 2006. prosecutors jointly questioned the two parks.

the former speaker claimed he legally received a donation from park yeon-cha for his institute, but the prosecution suspects he used most of the money privately. at the time, he was supporting an aide''s campaign to head a ward office in busan.

prosecutors also summoned another former speaker, kim won-ki. kim''s former secretary received tens of millions of won from the taekwang head, and the prosecution is looking into a link between him and the money.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr