Police Ban National Agricultural Cooperative Federation Chairman Kang Hodong from Leaving Country over 100 Million Won Bribery Allegations

Kang Hodong, Chairman of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, has been banned from leaving the country as he is under police investigation on charges of receiving bribes worth over 100 million won.

On October 30, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that it had recently imposed a travel ban on Chairman Kang, applying charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

Chairman Kang is suspected of receiving more than 100 million won from the head of a service provider that does business with affiliates of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation in January last year, during the election season for the federation's chairman.

The police believe that the head of this service provider delivered money to Chairman Kang on two occasions and requested business favors in return. Kang, who previously served as the head of Yulgok Agricultural Cooperative in Hapcheon County, South Gyeongsang Province, was elected as the 25th chairman of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation on January 25 last year and took office on March 11. On October 15, the police conducted a search and seizure of Chairman Kang's office on the 11th floor of the federation's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul.

The police plan to summon Chairman Kang soon to investigate the overall allegations. On October 24, Chairman Kang appeared at the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee audit and stated, "Regardless of the reason, I sincerely apologize for causing concern to the public, our 2.06 million cooperative members, 120,000 employees, and 1,100 cooperative heads."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.