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| Lee Kyu-tae |
By Kim Se-jeong
The investigation into llgwang Group Chairman Lee Kyu-tae, who was arrested last week for alleged corruption in state arms purchases, said that he runs a wide range of businesses, from defense to entertainment.
While Lee has operated the defense business for 30 years, he also owns Polaris Entertainment, founded in 2000.
He is the focus of a separate investigation over alleged sexual harassment of actress Clara, who sued him in January for allegedly sending sexually abusive Kakao messages.
Other clients include singers Kim Beom-soo, Ivy and Ladies Code; and actors Kim Seon-kyung and Yang Dong-geun.
The company has been the biggest sponsor of the Daejong Film Awards, Korea's oldest film awards, since 2013, when Lee was appointed to the awards committee.
In 2000, Lee established the Ilgwang Welfare Foundation and the Ilgwang Education Foundation.
On Wednesday, the government joint investigation team arrested the chairman for allegedly pocketing 50 billion won ($44 million) for connecting a Turkish defense manufacturer to the Korean Air Force in a 130-billion-won arms deal in 2009.
Lee is accused of exaggerating the price of the Electronic Warfare Threat Simulator and getting the 50 billion won from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. He is also accused of leaking Korea's defense secrets to Israel and of bribing weapon acquisition officials.
Lee, 66, started his career as a police officer. In 1985, he founded Ilgwang Group, with weapons trade as its main business. As a pioneer in this field, he made his name in early 2000 after getting weapons from Russia. This gave him the nickname "Brown Bear," after the name of the project.
In 2009, he was sentenced to four years in jail (suspended sentence) for embezzling 8 billion won and for breach of trust in the Russian project.
It was found that Lee had laundered money by making huge donations to a Seoul church and later retrieving the money back. Investigators are looking into whether he also used the church in the latest defense scandal.
Despite these allegations, Lee's defense business has been one of the leading companies in the field.
In 2008, Lee received an award from then President Lee Myung-bak for his contributions to Korea's defense industry. This award was followed by awards from the Korea Trade Research Association in 2009 and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy in 2010. He was invited to teach business management at the Ewha Womans University in 2013.
The investigation into Lee is part of the government's wider probe into the defense industry.
