The youngest son of South Korean's President Kim Dae-jung has gone on trial in Seoul and denied acting corruptly.

Kim Hong-gul, 38, is accused of taking bribes from Tiger Pools International in return for using his influence to secure it a government license to run a lottery business. He is also accused of tax evasion.

Mr Kim admitted receiving shares and share options from TPI but denied this was a bribe.

President Kim has been seriously weakened

"I never used influence in the process of selecting the winner of the bid," he told the court.

Mr Kim is accused of accepting 3.7bn won ($2.9m) from companies expecting favours. Prosecutors allege that of the total, 1.6bn won were given as bribes.

If found guilty he could face up to five years in jail.

Scandal

A second son of the president, Kim Hong-up, is also under arrest and facing corruption charges in an unrelated case.

The scandal has overshadowed the final months in office of President Kim, who pledged a crackdown on corruption when he took power.

Kim Hong-gul is on trial alongside Choi Kyu-sun, a former aide to President Kim, and former Vice-Mayor of Seoul Kim Hee-wan.

Mr Choi has said he passed on a request from TPI to Kim Hong-gul for fair treatment in the selection process of the lotto license winner.

But Mr Choi has denied this amounted to influence peddling.

"I don't think TPI won the business license merely from the help of Hong-gul, because TPI President Song Jae-bin made the same request to several other people," Mr Choi was quoted as saying by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

The trial's opening coincided with the formal indictment of the chairman of the world's largest steelmaker, POSCO, for his alleged involvement in the scandal.

Yoo Sang-Boo is accused of forcing POSCO units and contractors to buy shares in a scandal-linked lottery firm at inflated prices, prosecutors said.