Nine chaebol owners are set to take the stand at the National Assembly on Tuesday, to answer questions over their suspicious relationship with President Park Geun-hye and her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil.

It is the first time in South Korea’s modern history to bring the top chaebol leaders together for a parliamentary hearing and to question them on national television over their allegedly cozy ties with politics and power, a topic that has mostly been considered a taboo to speak of. 

None of them are charged with irregularities, but they are expected to face questions to determine whether they were victims or beneficiaries of the Park administration.

But questions remain whether the parliamentary grilling would end in a mere political show or become an opportunity for the businesses to address public discontent on the suspected collusive ties with the state.

The hearing is the largest ever also in significance.

Korean chaebols led South Korea’s fast economic growth in the 70s and 80s under the support of militant governments led by Park’s father, late former President Park Chung-hee. Summoning chaebol owners to open hearing sessions at the parliament has thus been considered risky and they often evaded the calls citing business schedules.

There were past cases in which a conglomerate owner was questioned by lawmakers.

In 1988, the National Assembly summoned late former Hyundai Group Chairman Chung Joo-young over his role as then chairman of Federation of Korean Industries suspected of raising fund for Ilhae Foundation launched by former President Chun Doo-hwan.

The nine cheabol facing the Assembly this week represent a large portion of the nation’s economic growth highly dependent on exports.

Some say that having them at the witness stand will strike a serious blow to their global reputation and aggravate anti-business sentiment here.

Tycoons are expected to say that they gave the money with no favors in mind, but Chung Sun-sup, CEO of Chaebul.com said evasive answers may create a bigger backlash.

“The vicious cycle of businesses offering money to the president in exchange of favors should end here. But if they keep saying that the donation was made voluntarily (without strings attached), it will never end here,“ he said.

The hearing on Tuesday, meanwhile, brought a full stop to the tycoons’ business operations over the weekend to prepare for questions from the 18 lawmakers -- half from the ruling party and half from the opposition parties.

According industry sources, some companies have formed special teams consisted of journalists-turned-executives to go through the questions and answers with the chairmen. Some with aging tycoons will have medical teams and ambulances waiting outside the hearing room in case of an emergency.

Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo, 79, is the eldest of the nine, followed by Sohn Kyoung-sik, co-chairman of CJ Group who is 78. The list also includes LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo, GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo, Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won. , but most of them were summoned by the prosecution last month over their one-on-one meetings with Park last year.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the youngest of the nine, is expected to be at the center of the hearing as he is set to be asked over the motives behind the tech giant’s massive donations to the two private organizations controlled by Choi and her associates.

Among the nine, Samsung made the largest donation, 20.4 billion won ($17.3 million) to the Mir and K-Sports foundations. The total money Samsung allegedly offered to Choi and her family amounts to almost 30 billion won. The prosecution has been investigating whether the money was given in exchange of Samsung’s leadership transition to Lee Jae-yong, by allegedly pressuring the National Pension Service to approve a controversial merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries despite opposition and financial losses last year.

SK and Lotte Group are the next on the line as they are to face questions over allegations that they had asked for favors to win back duty free licenses they lost last year. For CJ, SK and Hanwha, chairmen are likely to be asked whether they asked for the president’s special pardon for their wrongdoings.

Despite the political implication of having the chaebol owners at the witness stand, Park Ju-gun, CEO of CEOScore, a local corporate watchdog, said it would be difficult to end the collusive ties between the business and the state.

”What the (state) power and the chaebol have in common is that they are the organizations that have never been interrupted or checked,” he said, adding that the power of chaebol has only been tamed by the political power instead of the board of directors or shareholders.

”As long as chaebols’ ownership remain as they are today, the cozy relationship will never end.“

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)