Daewoo shipbuilding provided luxury tour to journalist: lawmaker

A lawmaker of South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party said Monday that Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the country's troubled shipbuilder, allegedly paid for a luxury tour for the chief editor from one of the country's top national dailies, apparently to seek favorable news coverage.

Rep. Kim Jin-tae said his investigation showed Song Hee-young, a chief editor of South Korea's top newspaper Chosun Ilbo, went on a tour in 2011 involving a private jet flight, a yacht cruise and hitting the green at a golf course in Europe.

Daewoo Shipbuilding, which posted a massive net loss last year, is currently under probe over alleged accounting fraud.

(Yonhap)

Kim added that the daily rental cost of the yacht used by the journalist was estimated at 22,000 euros ($24,633), claiming that accepting such benefits from a private company can be considered as a serious lapse of professional ethics.

Prosecutors, who already have been looking into corruption within the company, are also opening investigations into the latest scandal, sources said. (Yonhap)