Prosecutors raid US air base over alleged military supply kickback scheme

 Korean prosecutors raided Kunsan Air Base, a U.S. Air Force base in Gunsan, North Jeolla, on Thursday morning as part of an investigation into a U.S. Forces Korea contract supervisor suspected of inflating the prices of military supplies and taking kickbacks.

The Gunsan branch of the Jeonju District Prosecutors' Office searched the supervisor's on-base office and home and also seized items, including ledgers, a computer and a mobile phone. Investigators also searched the office of a co-worker who is being treated as a witness. Prosecutors said they carried out the operation under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), and also worked with a U.S. financial-crimes task force that includes Defense Department and Army criminal investigators.

"We proceeded with the cooperation of the U.S. base," an official at the Gunsan branch said.

Under U.S. federal procurement rules, the contract supervisor was authorized to use a government purchase card to buy materials and equipment costing up to $20,000 per transaction, investigators said. The supervisor is accused of demanding kickbacks from a supplier who runs an electrical-materials company. In return, the supplier was allowed to deliver goods for maintenance and other work at the base at two to 10 times the normal price and to pay back an amount equal to the markup.

Between 2021 and around January 2025, the supervisor bought about 1.24 billion won ($811,000) worth of goods through the supplier over roughly 160 transactions and pocketed about 240 million won in kickbacks, prosecutors said.

Some of the goods failed to meet U.S. federal procurement standards. When boxes of Chinese-made products arrived marked "Made in China," the labels were switched to "Made in USA," investigators said.

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To make the purchases appear to be ordinary competitive deals, the supervisor told the supplier that quotes from at least three companies were required and had the supplier set up two more businesses to supply them, according to the investigation. The comparison quotes were fabricated, with the supervisor setting the prices.

The supervisor is also accused of regularly demanding spending money, including tens of millions of won described as a wedding gift, dental bills and hundreds of thousands of won in lunch tabs.

BY KIM BO-REUM [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.