The main opposition party's interim leader vowed Thursday to uncover the truth behind corruption allegations involving environmental and defense-related projects carried out under the administrations of former President Lee Myung-bak and incumbent President Park Geun-hye.
   
Moon Hee-sang, the interim chief of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, called for a parliamentary investigation into the allegations, saying corrupt practices should be rooted out by demanding accountability from those involved in the scandals.
   
One scandal centers on a 22 trillion won (US$20.2 billion) river refurbishment project carried out under the Lee government, which has long been at the center of controversy over allegations of shoddy construction, irreversible environmental damage and collusion in the bidding process for construction contracts.
   
The Lee administration has also been accused of spending tens of billions of dollars on various natural resources development projects overseas with few results.
   
Corruption in the defense industry has also become an issue amid growing allegations of bribery and other underhand dealings between military officials and defense firms.
   
"We will fully disclose the reality of the wasted taxpayers' money through a parliamentary investigation," Moon said during a party meeting. "We will demand absolute responsibility from those involved and make sure these incidents don't happen again."
   
Within the ruling Saenuri Party, lawmakers with close ties to the former president expressed displeasure at the current party leadership's vague stance on the issue.
  
"The four-river project was a successful project that had to be fought for in the face of the opposition party's attempts to damage it within the parliamentary environment and labor committee during the entire four-year term of the (previous) National Assembly," Rep. Cho Hae-jin of the ruling party told Yonhap News Agency by phone.
   
"If the ruling party accepts the parliamentary investigation, it would amount to the entire ruling camp agreeing with the opposition party's claims and labeling the four-river project as a failure, so there is no way we can allow that." (Yonhap)