Category: Politics-Korea

It seems like an unwritten law of South Korean politics that every politician has a relative involved in a corruption scandal:

US prosecutors have charged relatives of former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with conspiracy to bribe a government official.

Mr Ban’s younger brother and his nephew stand accused of offering money to a Middle Eastern official, through an American middleman.

They allege the two men bribed the official to use state funds to buy their building project.

Mr Ban served as UN secretary general from 2007 until 2016.

He was succeeded by former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres on 1 January 2017. Mr Ban is now being seen as a possible future president in his home country of South Korea. [BBC]

You can read more at the link.

I am still waiting to see what evidence the ROK authorities have on Chung Yoo-ra to implicate her for corruption at Ewha Women’s University much less the ROK Presidential corruption scandal.  According to this interview she gave she wanted to drop out of the Ewha and her mom would not let her:

Chung Yoo-ra, daughter of Choi Soon-sil, told reporters in Denmark that she has nothing to do with the corruption charges against her and that any controversy involving her was the result of her mother’s scheming.“All I did was sign certain documents, whose contents were covered up by Post-its,” Chung told a group of Korean reporters during a break in a detention hearing at a local court in Aalborg, a northern city of Denmark, on Monday. “I don’t know a thing about what’s been going on in my mother’s business, as it was run by her and her aides.”Chung, 21, is accused of receiving unjust admission to and preferential treatment at Ewha Womans University. She is central to a probe into a corruption scandal involving the Korea Equestrian Federation and Samsung Electronics. Samsung pledged 22 billion won ($18.3 million) for Chung’s equestrian training. It was also the largest benefactor of two nonprofit foundations that Choi practically controlled, contributing 20.4 billion won.

“I thought I was going to be expelled [from Ewha Womans University],” Chung said. “But my mother and I met with then-President Choi Kyung-hee and professor Ryu Chul-kyun. I left the meeting before my mother did and then I found out later that I got the academic credits.

“I even told my mother that I wanted to drop out,” she added, “but it didn’t work out.”

Chung also denied knowledge of how Samsung came to finance her training.

“My mother told me that Samsung decided to sponsor six equestrian athletes,” Chung said. “I was just one of the six who were sponsored.

“I don’t know how much funding I received or from where,” she added. “Only my mother and my training coach would know.”

Chung denied having close ties with President Park Geun-hye.

“The last time I met her was when my father was still working [for Park],” she said. Chung Yoon-hoi, ex-husband to Choi, was chief of staff to Park from 1998 to 2004. “I think I was an elementary school student then.”

She also denied knowledge of what the president may have done during a mysterious seven-hour absence on the day of the Sewol ferry’s sinking in 2014, in which 304 passengers died after a delayed government response.

“I was pregnant at the time, and my mother and I had fallen out because of it,” she said. “I was living in Sillim-dong and my mother in Gangnam District [of southern Seoul], and we had no contact. So I have no knowledge of what might have happened in the government at the time.”

Chung was arrested by authorities in Denmark’s northern city of Aalborg on Sunday on the charge of illegally staying in the country. She was arrested with four other people, including her 19-month-old son.

The court in Aalborg on Monday extended Chung’s detention to Jan. 30, even after she told it, “There is no one to look after my 19-month-old son if I am detained.” Chung’s lawyer in Denmark is reportedly planning to file an appeal. [Joong Ang Ilbo]

It seems like ROK authorities can very easily have Chung return to Korea whenever they want if they allow her to have some kind of home detention with her baby:

Chung said after her arrest that she will not try to avoid extradition to Korea and will cooperate with an independent counsel’s probe of the allegations surrounding her and her mother – as long as she can be investigated without being detained.

Chung told the reporters in Aalborg that she would return to Korea in a heartbeat as long as she can stay with her son.

“It doesn’t matter if the child needs to stay at a nursery [when I’m being investigated], or with a social welfare group, or at a hospital,” she said. “I just miss my baby.”

If Chung returns to Korea, she will be separated from her son after she is arrested.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

It looks like if the ROK authorities want to prove President Park Geun-hye committed corruption they better find the evidence because she is not admitting to any wrong doing; likewise in regards to her actions during the Sewol ferry boat disaster:

President Park Geun-hye denied, Sunday, all allegations leveled against her regarding her mysterious whereabouts during the sinking of the Sewol and the corruption and influence-peddling scandal involving her confidant Choi Soon-sil.

Park held an unscheduled press conference at Cheong Wa Dae _ her first public appearance since she was impeached, Dec. 9 _ and she used the 50-minute meeting to dismiss allegations surrounding her as “unfair and absurd.”

Park stressed that she was on “normal duty” on the day of the Sewol sinking on April 16, 2014, dismissing allegations of her unknown whereabouts for seven hours as groundless rumors.

“First it was reported that I was having an affair with someone, and then I was engaged in an exorcism ritual. Then it was about me undergoing cosmetic surgery. It was utterly, utterly senseless,” she said.

“I’m sure to say that I was receiving reports on the tragic accident and keeping an eye on it as usual routine.”

She continued, “I ordered that rescuers should not miss any single person left behind through a thorough rescue operation, but then there was a report saying all have been rescued, which made me feel relieved. After it turned out to be false, I intended to head to the emergency measures headquarters immediately. But the security team delayed it. I rushed to the place as soon as everything was ready. I think I did whatever I had to do.”

Park denied the allegation that she had a beauty treatment on the day, saying, “It is totally not true. It is impossible to happen even from a commonsense point of view.”

She added that she did not meet anyone from outside Cheong Wa Dae except a hairdresser and someone who brought medicine for her neck.

She reiterated that she did not seek any personal interest or favor certain companies or figures, refuting charges of collusion with Choi, who is accused of having illegitimately meddled in state affairs and extorting tens of millions of dollars from conglomerates.

She repudiated the bribery allegations that Samsung made a large sum of donations to the two foundations controlled by Choi in return for the presidential office’s support of the conglomerate’s controversial merger of two Samsung units _ Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries. [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link.

I wonder how much of news story the search for Chung Yoo-ra is in Germany?  I scanned through various English language German news sites and could find no articles describing the search for Chung.  It seems as long as the search for Chung does not become a major national news story in Germany she should be able to hide out pretty effectively from the Korean media searching for her:

As Korean prosecutors search for Chung Yoo-ra to question her over how much she benefited from the corruption scandal involving her mother Choi Soon-sil and President Park Geun-hye, it was reported that Chung had abandoned more than 10 pets at her German home before fleeing.

Chung reportedly stayed at a luxury hotel in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe, some 140 kilometers south of Frankfurt, from late November until early December. She did not have her 10 large dogs and a cat with her, according to TV Chosun.

“It appears that she abandoned her pets because carrying them will make her more noticeable to public eyes while on the run,” the report said, after reporters visited the hotel’s most expensive suite that Chung paid 300,000 won ($248) a day for. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

This audiotape may be from 1999, but it shows the dynamics of the relationship between Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil seventeen years ago was one where Park was taking orders from Choi.  The question now is if that dynamic has changed after all these years or was Park still taking orders from Choi?:

Choi Soon-Sil is seen bossing and ordering Park Geun-Hye around in a newly-surfaced audio tape.  News outlet are focusing on a taped conversation from 1999 to understand the dynamic between Park and Choi.  In the tape, Park and Choi discuss building a memorial and museum for Park’s father, Park Chung-Hee.  They discuss building one near Gumi, the strongman’s birthplace in the province about 2 hours north-east of Busan, South Korea’s second largest city.

There are 3 other persons who are part of the conversation, including the vice chairman of the Hannarah Party. Choi is seen leading the conversation, interrupting Park several times, even telling her what to do and what to eat. She often talks to Park in “banmal,” the language used when talking to subordinates or children.  [All News Korea]

You can read the rest at the link.

Via All News Korea, comes something about Chung Yoo-ra the daughter of the woman behind the ROK Presidential scandal, she is a single mother:

Well, Chung’s passport has now been canceled and South Korea’s special prosecutor is requesting that Germany freeze assets belonging to the Choi family.  They are specifically asking that Germany extradite her to South Korea or to arrest and deport her, as her passport is no longer valid.  However, it is not known  where exactly Chung is, although it is suspected she is with the baby she gave birth to in 2015 (the father of the child, who has since broken up with Chung, has returned to South Korea and was interviewed by authorities).  Indeed, the special prosecution asked that Chung attend a parliamentary hearing last week.  She was nowhere to be found and even Choi’s lawyer , Lee Kyung-Jae, didn’t know where she was:  “I don’t know when she will return. She has the freedom to make a choice [whether to attend the hearing or not].”  By virtue of her no show, she is now accused of another serious charge, obstruction of justice.  [All News Korea]

You can read more at the link.

The daughter of the woman at the center of the ROK Presidential impeachment scandal now has a court order for her arrest and the Foreign Ministry is in the process of revoking her passport since it is believed that she is in hiding in Germany:

South Korea’s foreign ministry said Thursday it will soon initiate the process of confiscating the passport of the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, the long-time friend of President Park Geun-hye who faces charges for meddling in state affairs.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to swiftly issue an order for the return of Chung Yoo-ra’s passport, and if it is not returned before a deadline, it will take steps to annul it,” ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said in a press briefing.

According to the ministry, a person subject to such an order usually has 14 days in which to return the passport, but, given the gravity of the situation, Chung must return hers within seven days.

The ministry will send its order as registered mail to Chung’s Korean address or to her legal representative. The order will take effect once the letter is received.

If the first order is returned undelivered, the ministry will mail a second. If that one is also sent back, then the ministry will post its confiscation order on its website.

Earlier in the week, the independent counsel investigating the influence-peddling scandal involving Choi and President Park secured a court warrant to arrest Choi’s only daughter, who is believed to be hiding out in Germany.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The more I read about the Choi Soon-sil scandal the more I realize that she can arguably be considered a well connected lobbyist taking money from corporations to influence presidential policy.  In the United States lobbying is a well respected profession where in South Korea it can be considered bribery:

Samsung Electronics, the country’s largest listed company, picked up the tab for a sojourn by Choi Soon-sil, the controversial friend of President Park Geun-hye, and her daughter to Germany last year, the JoongAng Ilbo learned Tuesday.

Choi, 60, is a prime suspect in the abuse of power scandal that led to the impeachment of Park earlier this month. The prosecution indicted Choi in November on charges of abuse of power, coercion, attempted coercion and attempted fraud, making clear that the president is a co-conspirator in all of her alleged crimes. Park was impeached on Dec. 9 for alleged violations of the constitution and criminal laws.

Samsung has been accused of generously sponsoring the 20-year-old daughter of Choi, Chung Yoo-ra. Chung was a gold medalist in dressage in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, and suspicions were raised that the tech giant financed some of Chung’s activities as an equestrian athlete, such as buying a horse, Vitana V, reportedly worth 1 billion won ($838,574).  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

Here is what she may have been lobbying for to President Park in return for the money that Samsung was giving her sports foundation:

The independent counsel’s team is trying to find a link between Samsung’s generosity toward Choi and Chung and the National Pension Service’s approval of a controversial merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries last year. The $8 billion deal solidified heir apparent Lee Jae-yong’s grip on Samsung Electronics.

The prosecution investigated whether the Blue House strong-armed the state-run pension fund into backing the merger. It failed to prove the suspicion.

Determining the nature of the money Samsung gave to Choi and Chung — whether it was bribes for favors or not — is the top priority of investigators at the independent counsel, a source from the law enforcement authority told the JoongAng Ilbo.

You can read more at the link.

Woo Byung-woo a former Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs under the Park administration has been hiding from questioning for 47 days which caused a nationwide effort by average Koreans to located him.  It appears the pressure to find him has worked because he recently testified to lawmakers about his role in the Choi Soon-sil scandal where he denies everything:

Facing a series of condemning questions and mockery from lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, Woo Byung-woo, former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, denied Thursday any wrongdoing in the unprecedented abuse of power scandal that led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.

Woo made his first public appearance in 47 days to attend a hearing by the parliamentary special committee into the Choi Soon-sil scandal, and his presence generated high media and public interest, reflecting rampant suspicions that the former prosecutor colluded with Choi and her circle to allow her to pull strings from behind the scenes in state affairs.

Woo’s position as civil affairs senior secretary empowered him to monitor any legal or ethical breach by public officials. He refuted all allegations against him, a response that drew ridicule from lawmakers.

“I do not personally know Choi,” Woo testified. “I first heard about her when media reports came out on her husband Chung Yoon-hoi [in November 2014].”

When asked if he refuted media reports that he had let Choi interfere in state affairs and colluded with President Park’s three most trusted aides, nicknamed “the three doorknobs,” he said, “I do.”

Aside from allegations that Woo turned a blind eye to Choi’s interference, he is also accused of tax evasion and embezzlement from a real estate company run by his family. He is also suspected to have obstructed an investigation into the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014 that left 304 dead by ordering prosecutors to not raid offices of the Coast Guard in a probe of the botched rescue efforts.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but what I find surprising so far is the lack evidence presented.  If lawmakers are trying to prove that people like Woo were acting in concert with Choi you would think they would have emails to prove the connection?

Does South Korea protest too much? https://t.co/TPVgwdbKyB via @WSJ

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) December 20, 2016