DAPA to Consider Project Suspension for Employee Detained on Bribery Charges

Ministry of National Defense Acquisition Program Administration Building

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced on the 10th that it would "review suspension of the project, among other measures, in accordance with laws and procedures" regarding the case in which a DAPA employee was indicted and detained on charges of receiving bribes from a defense company.

Kim Jucheol, spokesperson for DAPA, stated at a regular press briefing held at the Ministry of National Defense that "DAPA will address any misconduct in accordance with relevant laws and regulations." He added, "Since this is currently under investigation, we cannot confirm exact details, but at present, one DAPA employee is under investigation." He explained, "We consider this a case of individual misconduct." He further mentioned, "To minimize the impact on projects, DAPA has already introduced improvements to its system by excluding the highest and lowest proposal scores during evaluations."

Previously, the Defense Business and Industrial Technology Crime Investigation Division at the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office indicted and detained employee A from DAPA’s Power Enhancement Support Management Team responsible for base power projects on July 28, on charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. From 2021 to 2023, A is accused of receiving goods and money totaling approximately 460 million won from executives and employees of the defense contractor LIG D&A during major weapons development bidding processes, such as the 'Jangbogo-II (KSS-II) Submarine Link-22 System Development' project, in return for leaking classified project information and awarding high evaluation scores to the company.

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