[Yonhap News Photo]
Lockheed Martin has dismissed its alleged involvement in South Korea's corruption scandal after allegations surfaced that the US arms contractor secured arms deals with the help of President Park Geun-hye's friend.
The arms producer has been dogged by rumors that Park's arrested friend, Choi Soon-sil, is suspected of influencing a decision to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system aimed at intercepting North Korean ballistic missiles.
An Min-suk, a lawmaker from the main opposition Democratic Party, said in a recent radio interview that Choi had helped the US company win projects in South Korea, including the THAAD system.
He claimed that Choi allegedly met with the Lockheed Martin chairperson in June and is suspected of being behind arms deals, including the purchase of F-35A stealth fighters from Lockheed Martin.
Such allegations are "false", Lockheed Martin said in a statement, adding its CEO and chairperson had never met with Choi.
"The comments in the recent press indicating that Lockheed Martin has had engagement with Choi Soon-sil or Linda Kim with regards to THAAD or F-35 are false," it said. "Lockheed Martin has never consulted on any projects, including the Korea F-35 program, with either Choi Soon-sil or Linda Kim."
There have been allegations that Linda Kim, a Korean-American lobbyist, holds ties with Choi.
The US missile shield has hurt relations between Beijing and Seoul. Beijing has argued the US missile shield would "seriously" hurt strategic interests of China and other countries as well as the security balance in Northeast Asia.
Some 28,000 US troops are stationed in South Korea under a mutual defense pact dating back to the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas are still technically at war with no peace treaty signed.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
