Court rejects request for environmentalist's arrest

SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Yonhap) -- A court rejected prosecutors' request for an arrest warrant for leading grassroots environmentalist Choi Yul on Wednesday, saying embezzlement allegations against him are not yet solid enough to require his detention.

Choi was suspected of pocketing 200 million won (US$136,054) of government and
corporate money donated to the Korean Federation of Environmental Movement (KFEM)
between 2002 and 2005, when he stepped down as secretary general.
Prosecutors requested the warrant on Tuesday, arguing Choi invested personally in
stocks and funded his daughter's study overseas with the illicit money.
Rejecting the request, Judge Kim Yong-sang of the Seoul Central District Court
said, "There is still room for debate, as Choi claims that the money in question
was money that was repaid to him for funds he had previously loaned" to his
organization.
Choi has claimed the KFEM borrowed 300 million won from him to build a facility
in 1995, and paid him back in installments over several occasions.
The probe has prompted Choi's organization to apologize publicly for its lack of
transparency, saying it will no longer accept large-scale corporate and
government money, but fund itself only with grassroots donations. It will also
release financial statements on the Web on a monthly basis, it said Tuesday.
But critics also suspect the probe might be a witch hunt. Choi's organization and
other non-governmental groups have been critical of President Lee Myung-bak's
growth-driven, pro-business projects to revive the economy.