Tag: Cho Kuk

Considering all the scandals surrounding Cho Kuk it makes you wonder why Seoul National University wanted him back in the first place:

Cho Kuk, former justice minister indicted over an ex-vice mayor’s bribery case, was suspended from duty as a professor at Seoul National University (SNU) on Wednesday, officials said.

The university said it has decided to impose an administrative action against Cho, who resumed his job as professor of the SNU law school in October 2019 after stepping down from the justice minister post following a scandal involving his family.

“As of Wednesday, we decided to relieve him of his duty on the judgment that it would be difficult (for Cho) to normally carry out his job,” the university said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I do find it interesting that the Korean courts put former President Park Geun-hye n pre-trial confinement for fear of evidence destruction and fleeing the country, but they did not put Cho Kuk in jail. Is this a sign that the fix is in to protect him?:

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk managed to avoid pretrial detention on Friday, as a local court turned down the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant to investigate his alleged abuse of power during his service at the Blue House. 

Judge Kwon Deok-jin of the Seoul Eastern District Court announced his decision to reject the prosecutors’ request to take Cho into custody at 1 a.m. on Friday, saying Cho is not a flight risk and there is no possibility of evidence destruction, although the prosecution has proven the criminal charges against the former justice minister. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It appears the fix may be in to get Cho Kuk’s wife as little punishment as possible for her crimes:

Prosecutors are challenging the impartiality of a judge presiding over the trial of Chung Kyung-sim, the wife of scandal-plagued former Justice Minister Cho Kuk. 

The JoongAng Ilbo learned Friday that the Seoul Central District Court has failed to accurately record prosecutors’ arguments made during a session of Chung’s trial on Dec. 10. At the time, prosecutors complained to Judge Song In-gwon for 10 minutes after he rejected their request to revise indictments against Chung. The court’s official record of the session, however, said, “The prosecution said it has no special opinion.” 

Prosecutors from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office asked Judge Song to change some specifics in their indictment of Chung. The prosecutors said they had been in a hurry to file the indictment against Chung. 

Chung, a professor at Dongyang University, was first indicted on Sept. 6 for allegedly creating a Dongyang University presidential award for her daughter – without the knowledge of the president of the university – and secretly placing the president’s seal on the award.

Prosecutors normally indict a suspect after they’ve been questioned, but Chung was indicted that night without any questioning because the statute of limitations for her charge was about to expire the very next day, Sept. 7.

In the following weeks, prosecutors managed to detain Chung and question her multiple times, which led to their determination last month to indict her on 14 more charges, including obstruction of business, fraud, embezzlement and instigation of tampering, hiding and destroying evidence.

After the follow-up questioning, the prosecution attempted to revise their Sept. 6 indictment of Chung for forgery. They wanted to change the date, location and method of the alleged forgery, but the court refused the request. “If the prosecution was to change just one aspect, I would allow it,” Judge Song said on Dec. 10. “But they are trying to change five key factors.” 

Prosecutors strongly protested the decision. “The court’s decision is unfair,” a prosecutor said. “We will review the rejection closely and ask again.”

As the prosecution continued its protest, Judge Song raised his voice in anger. “If you continue, I can remove you from the courtroom,” he said. “My judgment may be wrong. You can appeal after the sentencing.” 

The court, however, recorded in the official minutes of the session that the prosecution presented “no special opinion” on the matter.

“This is a serious issue,” a prosecutor-turned-lawyer told the JoongAng Ilbo on Friday. “Civic groups could file a petition to accuse the court of tampering with an official document [the minutes].”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

How many corruption cases is Cho Kuk involved in? I am losing count:

– Cho Kuk, former justice minister and presidential secretary, on Monday attended a questioning over bribery allegations involving the former vice mayor of Busan.

Cho appeared at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors Office on Monday morning to attend the questioning, the first time he was called in regarding the bribery case.

Cho was the head of the presidential office’s civil affairs division that oversaw a special inspection of the vice mayor’s bribery allegations.

Yoo Jae-soo, Busan’s former vice mayor of economic affairs, was recently indicted for allegedly receiving bribes worth 49.5 million won (US$42,224) during his term at the state financial regulator.

While he was under surveillance by Cheong Wa Dae’s special inspection team in 2017, he avoided punishment for an unknown reason and became Busan’s vice mayor in 2018.

The string of developments raised suspicions that some Cheong Wa Dae officials may have engaged in a cover-up of the bribery case.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I still can’t believe how the ROK media continues to obscure her face when everyone related to the Park Geun-hye impeachment had their face splashed all over the news media:

 State prosecutors filed additional charges against the arrested wife of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk on Monday as they apparently prepare to summon Cho for questioning in connection with alleged irregularities by his family.

Chung Kyung-sim, a professor, was indicted on 14 counts related to her daughter’s college admission and her dubious investment in a private equity fund (PEF).

Her detention, originally set to expire at midnight, will be extended with the indictment.

Chung was arrested last month on 11 charges relating to alleged irregularities surrounding academic favors and a financial investment.

The prosecution added three charges, including fraud and violation of the real-name financial transaction law.

She is already standing trial on alleged forgery of a presidential citation for her daughter.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I absolutely called this one that the next time we see Cho Kuk’s younger brother he would be in a wheelchair. He had earlier tried to avoid arrest by claiming he had a bad back, now he is wheelchair bound and even added a neck brace for added dramatic effect:

The prosecution again sought an arrest warrant for a younger brother of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk on Tuesday over a hiring scandal and an alleged fake lawsuit surrounding a private school foundation run by his family.

State prosecutors asked a Seoul court to issue a warrant to formally detain the 52-year-old man over charges, including breach of duty, bribery, obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting destruction of evidence.

The brother, who worked at the Woongdong school foundation, is alleged to have leaked test questions and answers to two people who applied to teaching posts at a middle school run by the foundation and received 210 million won (US$180,102)

He is also suspected of incurring financial losses to the school foundation by filing a fraudulent lawsuit against it over construction costs.

The prosecution claimed the younger Cho should be arrested, given that two brokers who gave the money to him were already taken into custody. A court review of the request will be held probably on Thursday.

The prosecution earlier sought an arrest warrant for him, but a local court rejected to issue it on Oct. 9, saying the charges are disputable.

If the warrant is issued, he would be the third member of the former minister’s family to be arrested.

Chung Kyung-sim, Cho’s wife, was arrested last week on a total of 11 counts of charges including an alleged forgery of a school award for her daughter and a dubious investment in a private equity fund. A son of Cho’s cousin involved in the fund was also arrested in mid-September.

Yonhap

As you can see the Korean media continues to blur the faces of those involved with the Cho Kuk scandal. For this brother they don’t even give his name instead call him the younger Cho. This very much unlike what they did with everyone involved with the President Park Geun-hye impeachment who the media did everything possible to personally destroy.

The fact that Korean conservatives were able to mobilize so many people to protest against ROK Justice Minister Cho Kuk forced President Moon to have him resign:

 In an unexpected move, Justice Minister Cho Kuk offered to resign Monday amid an ongoing probe into corruption allegations involving his family.

“I judged I should not add a burden to the president and the government regarding my family affairs. I think the time has come for me to step down for the successful completion of prosecution reform,” he said in a statement.

“I was mere ‘kindling’ for reforming the prosecution. My role as ‘kindling’ has come to an end.”

President Moon Jae-in formally accepted Cho’s resignation offer, Cheong Wa Dae said. The president signed a related document at 5:38 p.m., Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung, said.

Yonhap

The fact that he resigned I think also may mean there must be some good evidence against him to substantiate the corruption charges. It will be interesting to see if prosecutors continue to go after Cho Kuk and his family on the corruption charges now that he has resigned.

The embattled ROK Justice Minister’s brother pulled the oldest excuse in the book by claiming his back hurt:

Once prosecutors entirely finish their questioning of Chung, they’re expected to decide whether to file for a pretrial detention warrant like they did for Cho’s younger brother, who faces allegations of receiving hundreds of millions of won in bribes in exchange for offering jobs to teachers at a middle school operated by the Cho family. 

Cho’s brother was supposed to appear at a court in Seoul on Tuesday morning to attend his warrant hearing and offer self-defense oral testimony, but he chose not to show up, citing physical pain after a recent surgery on his lower spine. 

The court was expected to decide whether to detain him late Tuesday night after reviewing documents on his case. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but Cho’s brother is probably trying to drag this out as long as possible to allow his brother to have more time to gather the power and influence necessary to squash the investigation.