hankyoreh

Security robots roam the area of Yongsan Park that was opened to the public on a pilot basis on June 10. (Yonhap News)

The Hankyoreh has confirmed that a business owned by a figure who provided a large donation to President Yoon Suk-yeol during his presidential campaign — and who received along with his wife an invitation in first lady Kim Keon-hee’s name to the presidential inauguration — won a private contract to rent “robotic guard dogs” to the presidential office in Yongsan.

Robotic guard dogs appeared as part of the presidential office’s efforts to implement “scientific protection” at the office as it moved to Yongsan following Yoon’s electoral victory in March.

The company in question concluded a sole distribution contract with the Korean entity of the US company that manufactured the security robots in May. Just four months later, it concluded a private contract with the presidential office, sparking suspicion that the company’s personal relationship with the first couple influenced the contract.

According to reporting by the Hankyoreh on Tuesday and explanations provided by the Presidential Security Service (PSS) to Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmaker Jeon Yong-gi, the PSS signed a contract with the company — identified simply as Company D — on Sept. 27 to rent robotic guard dogs for three months.

Under the private contract, the presidential office is operating the robots in shifts of two to four robots each. The presidential office agreed to pay 6 million won (US$4,430) per robot a month for a total of 18 million won.

The two sides were able to conclude the deal as a private contract because it was less than 20 million won.

However, the PSS has budgeted about 1.3 billion won (US$960,000) for the “adoption of equipment for scientific guard operations” next year, including the purchase of robotic guard dogs, for which 800 million won has been set aside.

The PSS told Jeon that it is currently preparing to launch a “scientific guard operation” in earnest next year, and that it is renting the robotic guard dogs for three months because it needs to see what they can do “to get a handle on the operating concept.”

The PSS plans to purchase robotic guard dogs next year through an open bid. But given how Company D is renting its robot for three months of vetting, the entity has a leg up over the competition.

The problem is that there are clear signs that the company’s former president and current board member, a 62-year-old man identified by his family name of Seo, has enjoyed a relationship with the first couple that predates the signing of the contract.

Seo donated 10 million won (US$7,400) to Yoon’s campaign in July. Of the 21,279 people who donated to Yoon’s campaign, only 50 contributed the legal limit of 10 million won.

Seo also reportedly advised the people around him to donate to Yoon, too. An acquaintance of Seo told the Hankyoreh, “[Seo] suggested that I donate to Yoon’s side with him.”

Afterward, Seo and his wife received an invitation in the name of first lady Kim Keon-hee to the presidential inauguration. Seo’s wife is the head of Company D’s general headquarters for manufacturing, and she and her husband reportedly own about 40% to 50% of the company’s stock.

The PSS adopted the robotic guard dogs in short order.

Company D signed an exclusive distribution agreement with the Korean entity of a US robotics company in May.

The following month, somewhere near the presidential office in Yongsan, the PSS tested robotic guard dogs from the US company, along with some others from a company acquired by a Korean business.

Three months later in September, the PSS decided to operate the US company’s robotic guard dogs on a rental basis, and signed a contract with their exclusive distributor, Company D.

The company posted just 87 million won in sales last year and never sold a single robotic guard dog. However, just four months after becoming the US robotic company’s exclusive distributor, it won a contract from the presidential office.

The initial contract is small at just 18 million won, but the project could be a very lucrative one for the company going forward.

A robotics industry insider said that with new projects, “it’s important to corner the market,” and that the contract with the presidential office would significantly bolster Company D’s reputation.

“Just having the robotic guard dogs walking around the presidential office will have a promotional effect,” he said.

Jeon said, “That suspicions keep emerging about how personal relationships with the first couple are connected to all sorts of privileges is a serious problem in and of itself.”

“It’s to the point that we’ll need a general special investigation to get to the bottom of all these suspicions.”

Seo told the Hankyoreh that the contract is hardly a privilege.

“How can you operate four robotic devices for just KRW 6 million a month?” he said. “Because we need to move in a future-oriented direction, I decided to bite the bullet. Even though I asked them to write into the contract that they would buy the robots next year, they didn’t. Where’s the guarantee that we’ll get the contract next year, too?”

About the presidential inauguration invite, Seo denied he and his wife received a direct invitation from the first lady. He said, “I know somebody on the presidential transition team, and he said he was close to the first couple and would send us an invitation.”

However, the member of the transition team mentioned by Seo told the Hankyoreh that he “received no request from Seo” for an invitation to the inauguration.

A presidential official said the PSS evaluated the performance of the robotic guard dogs through trial operations in June and selected the ones from the US company. “We took no other factors into consideration besides the performance evaluations,” he said. “The first couple had nothing to do with it.”

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter; Kim Ga-yoon, staff reporter; Jung Hwan-bong, staff reporter; Bae Ji-hyun, staff reporter

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