A former civilian employee at a US Army facility in South Korea has been arrested on charges of taking $400,000 in kickbacks from military contractors, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday (May 15).
The man arrested was Young Beom Kim, 62, who oversaw construction contracts for the U.S. Army’s Yongsan-Casey base in South Korea from 2017 to 2021. Prosecutors say he oversaw contracts for blast doors and other equipment to protect U.S. Army personnel from attack, during which time he steered the contracts to companies that agreed to pay him kickbacks.
The Yongsan-Casey base is near the border with North Korea.
“The importance of Mr. King’s work and duties to the Army and its units cannot be overstated,” Damian Williams, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement. “He betrayed those duties in order to make a quick buck.”
Mr. Kim is a U.S. citizen and resident of South Korea. He has pleaded not guilty to six counts including wire fraud, bribery and money laundering. After a brief appearance in federal court in Manhattan, he was released on $250,000 bail and placed under house arrest with his family at his home in New Jersey.
In one case, Kim allegedly received $12,074 in kickbacks from a U.S. supplier of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment to give the supplier a $1 million contract to repair an Army barracks gymnasium.
He also received kickbacks from a South Korean supplier that sold parts made by U.S. and Chinese companies, prosecutors said.
