Fighter jet scandal rocks Korea
By David Isenberg

In the latest twist to a controversial weapons-procurement program, a South Korean Air Force court martial last Wednesday sentenced a colonel to three years in prison on charges of bribery and disclosing classified military information concerning a US$4.23 billion fighter-jet sales contract, commonly known as the F-X project.

President Kim Dae-jung approved an air force agreement on May 28 to purchase 40 F-15K fighter jets from US aircraft maker Boeing from 2005 through 2009 to serve as South Korea's next-generation fighters. Boeing's F-15K, the advanced version of the F-15E, was widely perceived as an aging aircraft, prompting speculation that South Korea caved in to US pressure, opting for Boeing even though French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation SA offered a lower price for its fighters.

The court said Colonel Cho Ju-hyung received a total of 11 million won ($9,300 at current exchange rates) in bribes from a representative of Dassault over a period of nine months from January last year. Cho's defense counsel said the colonel was only acting according to his conscience to highlight the misdeeds of the Defense Ministry regarding the purchase of next-generation fighters.

The F-X program has been so controversial that in June the Ministry of National Defense said it would publish a White Paper, to be researched and written by the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis, by October on the bidding for the F-X program. A ministry official said, "The White Paper will contain all the specifics concerning the selection process, beginning with the Korean Air Force's proposal for the next-generation fighter-jet project." It will be the first official analysis published by the ministry concerning the project.

From the South Korean perspective, the competition was a no-win situation. If Boeing's F-15K were chosen, it would invite furious internal repercussions and suspicion that South Korea, once again, had succumbed to US pressure to buy US weapons. These suspicions come not only from the military (the South Korean Air Force favored Dassault) but from many lawmakers and the general public, who are tired of 50 years of US economic and political pressures and angry that President George W Bush has intensified tensions in Korea by labeling North Korea part of an "axis of evil".

US pressure to buy from Boeing were an unsettling reminder of South Korea's junior-partner status to the United States. They began in spring 2000, when Bush pushed for a Boeing purchase in his meetings with Kim. After that, Boeing sent a delegation to Seoul that included several key members of Missouri's congressional delegation, including Senator Christopher Bond, a Republican, and Richard Gephardt, a Democrat who represents the city of St Louis. The pressure went up a notch last October when Boeing lost a huge $200 billion contract for the US Joint Strike Fighter to its largest rival, Lockheed Martin. A few weeks later, Bond warned that "very unfortunate things could happen" to US-Korean relations if Seoul decided against buying Boeing's F-15 Eagle.

Meanwhile, the idea that South Korea, with its 50-year relationship with the United States, might select a French company for a strategic project like the F-X irked the Pentagon and raised concerns among US military analysts. Historically, South Korea has purchased 80-90 percent of its weapons from US manufacturers.

Last month the Seoul District Court rejected an injunction sought by the French aircraft maker to stop the contract from going to US rival Boeing. Dassault, which produces the Rafale, has left South Korea and said it will not participate in any future government procurement bids after the decision to go with Boeing's F-15K.

This is not the first time corruption charges have been made in regard to the fighter project. In May it was reported that Choi Kyu-sun, a former aide to President Kim, was supposed to receive $12 million from Boeing in return for his help in ensuring that the company won the project.

That investigation focused on the possible connection between Choi and Boeing, with Choi contending that the son of Kim's right-hand man Kwon Roh-kap, who is working at General Electric (GE), studied in the United States on a Boeing scholarship. Kwon is under arrest on bribery charges.

In April South Korea also picked GE as a subcontractor for Boeing's F-15K fighters over Pratt & Whitney, until then the sole engine provider for the F-15. Some raised questions over the decision, saying that the government's choice of GE had something to do with Kwon's son, who allegedly got a job with the engine maker in 2000.

In March the bidding process in South Korea turned into a national scandal after military police arrested two South Korean Air Force colonels on charges that they took bribes from Comet International, a company acting as a local agent for Dassault, in exchange for confidential information and advice. One of the officers was arrested after telling a television news program that senior Korean military leaders pressured a committee that conducted flight evaluations of all candidate aircraft to recommend Boeing. The French claimed they had been set up.

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