Korean Casino Operator Entangled in Political Scandal

In South Korea, an ongoing political corruption scandal involving President Park Geun Hye and his close aide Choi Soon-sil has reportedly put the current local casino operator Grand Korea Leisure Limited in trouble.

Founded in 2004 with a mission to increase the "international competitiveness" of the domestic casino industry and attract more tourists, Grand Korea Leisure Enterprise Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

According to a report in the Korea Times newspaper, investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office recently raided the Seoul headquarters of the Grand Korea Leisure Company and confiscated computers, documents and mobile phones of company executives.

The move comes after the casino operator agreed in May to financially support a wheelchair fencing team named The Blue K, named after a paper company founded by Choi, the daughter of shamanistic religious leader Choi Tae-min. Investigators suspect the detained 60-year-old woman used her influence with Park to pressure the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who was named the team's head coach, to agree to the deal.

The Korea Times reports that Blue K is made up of three athletes with the coach, all financially supported by Grand Korea Leisure Limited, while Park Sang-min, who stays similar, attends the same school at the same time, is considered an old friend of Ko, who designs handbags that Park has long favored. 슬롯머신

The newspaper said that suspicions were first raised when Grand Korea Leisure, which had long been considering whether to establish a swimming team or shooting team for the disabled, suddenly switched its support to fencing.

At the same time as they raided the Grand Korea Leisure Company, investigators seized computers, documents and mobile phones from the homes of Lee Jae-man, the president's former administrative secretary, and Ahn Bong-geun, Park's former public relations secretary. The two were forced to resign early and could be arrested along with Chung Ho-sung, a former presidential secretary who was similarly disgraced, after prosecutors found the trio shared a computer used to hand over state documents, mostly presidential speeches and policy drafts, to Choi.