Casino operator Kangwon Land admits corruption

The South Korean operator admitted that most employees got their jobs thanks to connections with former CEO and politicians.

South Korea.- South Korean based casino operator Kangwon Land has admitted that most of its workers who got their jobs between 2012 and 2013 did because of their connections with politicians and the former CEO of the company, Choi Heung-jip.

Choi Heung-jip led the state-run company from July 2011 to February 2014, and the employees from Kangwon Land claim that he was responsible for hiring 518 people during that period of time. “We apologize for committing a crime which would have been possible only in the 1960s or ‘70s,” they said in a statement early on Tuesday. Of those 518 new employees, 493 of them ended up with a position in the company because of influential people. Among the 95 percent of the corrupted employees, was a former intern of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, which at the time of the issue was the ruling party.

“A thing of the past is tarnishing the image of Kangwon Land, which has been trying hard to improve its transparency in recent years. It breaks the hearts of all employees and we are very sorry,” said the company. The ruling Democratic Party is now urging the prosecution to reinvestigate the case and the politicians involved in “Kangwon Land Gate.” Back in 2015, prosecutors closed a case that determined that only Choi and a HR official were responsible for issues in the company.

Choi Suk, spokesman for the Justice Party said: “This is an unimaginable corruption scandal involving a state-run company, which is funded by taxpayer money. Kwon belonged to an Assembly committee that is supposed to oversee the company until early 2012. Other applicants didn’t have the same chances of success … prosecutors should reopen the case to reveal the whole truth.”