By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter

The late President Park Chung-hee forced a businessman to give up his scholarship foundation and shares in news companies to muzzle the press in 1962, an investigation report of a special committee said on Friday.

The Puil Scholarship Foundation, a predecessor of the Chungsoo Scholarship Foundation, was donated by its late owner Kim Ji-tae, a wealthy businessman and former lawmaker, to Park’s military government, according to the report by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

Chairwoman of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) Park Geun-hye, who is the daughter of the late president, had headed the foundation, which remains the 100 percent owner of the Pusan Ilbo, a vernacular daily, and 30 percent of the Seoul MBC, since the late 1990s until February this year.

The foundation’s name was changed to Chungsoo in 1982, as it was named after her parents, using the middle parts of the names of her father and mother, Yuk Young-soo.

According to the NIS Development Committee for Clarifying the Past (NISDC), established to unearth misdeeds of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) _ predecessor of the NIS _ the spy agency was deeply involved in urging Kim to give up the foundation and his large shares of the newspaper and the broadcaster.

Since Kim donated the foundation and shares to the military government in 1962, it has been rumored that it confiscated the foundation because the businessman refused to help finance Park’s coup.

``The Chungsoo Scholarship Foundation should be returned to society in order to realize Kim’s legacy, who wished to contribute to the welfare of the poor,’’ said the committee.

It also said the honor of the Kyunghyang Shinmun, which was forcibly merged with MBC by the former president, and its former journalists should be restored.

``As Kyunghyang has been severely persecuted for criticizing the military government, the newspaper’s past activities and the honor of related journalists deserve proper reevaluation.’’

The GNP claimed the investigation was aimed at hurting the party’s chairwoman.

``When the committee investigated the case of Kim Hyung-wook, former KCIA chief, they relied heavily on testimonies from just a few witnesses,’’ said an official of the party. ``We don’t believe what they announced today is based on objective and reliable investigations.’’

He added the GNP conducted its own investigation into the case about a year ago, but found no misdeeds.

things@koreatimes.co.kr