Tag: Cho Kuk

The ROK prosecutors tried to put some heat on Cho Kuk by indicting his wife for fraud:

The wife of justice minister nominee Cho Kuk was indicted on Friday over allegations that she fabricated a school certificate for her daughter.

The prosecution filed a formal charge against Cho’s wife, a professor surnamed Chung, without summoning her for its probe into a series of corruption allegations involving Cho’s family.

Chung, 57, a Dongyang University professor, was accused of forging a school president’s award certificate in 2012 to help her daughter enter a medical school in 2014.

The move is expected to deal a blow to Cho, who attended a parliamentary confirmation hearing Friday, nearly one month after he was nominated to lead the justice ministry.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but he had already thrown his wife under the bus before to advance his nomination.

It apparently worked because President Moon went ahead and appointed him to ROK Justice Minister as expected:

President Moon Jae-in appointed Cho Kuk as justice minister Monday, emphasizing the need to continue the government’s reform drive.

He appealed for “public understanding and support” for his decision to appoint Cho despite controversies over alleged ethical lapses and wrongdoing by his family. Cho’s wife has even been indicted on charges of forging a university president’s citation for her daughter.

Moon said he’s aware of the fierce debate over whether Cho is suitable for the post.

“But I thought what’s more important is to maintain the principle and consistency,” Moon said in a televised statement issued after giving Cho a letter of appointment at Cheong Wa Dae.

It would be a “bad precedent” to not appoint Cho solely on the basis of suspicions of illicit acts that have not been confirmed, Moon said.

Yonhap

Over the coming weeks expect to hear the term “reform” quite a bit because President Moon wanted Cho Kuk as the Justice Minister to take power away from prosecutors for corruption investigations. President Moon wants to move indictment powers from prosecutors to a special unit. If this special unit is staffed with political allies like Cho, this would allow the Blue House to control who gets indicted.

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Mr. Hwang reports now >60% ROK ppl are against Cho Kuk appointed as justice minister. Even Moon's main supporters, housewives, are against Cho. But, Moon still plan to appoint Cho this week. https://t.co/mMJZUB6pbO

— bmk218 (@bmk218) September 4, 2019

It appears that the confirmation process for Cho Kuk was drawn out specifically to pass the deadline for calling witnesses like the opposition party wanted to do. Because of this only Cho Kuk will testify and of course he will deny everything and then get appointed as the next Justice Minister and then subsequently have the power to squash any investigation in to him:

 South Korea’s ruling and main opposition parties on Wednesday agreed to hold a confirmation hearing for a disputed justice minister candidate later this week.

The rival parties had been in a row over scheduling the parliamentary hearing of Justice Minister nominee Cho Kuk, who faces corruption allegations involving his family.

The dramatic agreement was reached during a meeting at the National Assembly between Na Kyung-won, floor leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), and her ruling Democratic Party (DP) counterpart Lee In-young.

“There was a gap in our opinion, but we’ve agreed to hold a confirmation hearing for Cho on Friday judging that it is desirable to fulfill the parliament’s duty,” Na told reporters.

Lee said the two sides have agreed not to request that Cho’s family members attend the hearing.

“The legal deadline for summoning witnesses has passed. We will be proceeding with the confirmation hearing without witnesses,” the DP floor leader said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

How come I feel this is just a big dog and pony show to help smooth the way towards Cho Kuk nomination approval next week?:

The prosecution began investigating allegations surrounding justice minister nominee Cho Kuk and his family, Tuesday, carrying out large-scale search and seizure raids on a dozen schools and other facilities linked to the suspicions.

According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, investigators conducted searches at Busan Medical Center, and Seoul National (SNU), Korea, Dankook and Kongju National universities for evidence related to the allegations of preferential treatment given to Cho’s daughter in her college admissions and receipt of scholarships.

The law enforcement agency also sent investigators to a private equity firm that Cho made a huge investment in amid suspicions that he tried to transfer his wealth to his children without paying taxes; as well as a private school foundation run by his mother. 

Currently, 11 complaints have been filed with the prosecution regarding the scandal. 

“As public concern has been raised over the allegations against Cho, we decided to conduct the raids to clarify the facts,” a prosecutor said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but would anyone be surprised if the Blue House announces that these raids produced no evidence thus Cho’s nomination should be approved next week.

It looks like President Moon is committed to ramming through his Justice Minister nomination despite the corruption allegations against him:

A parliamentary panel decided Monday to hold a confirmation hearing next week for justice minister nominee Cho Kuk, who faces snowballing corruption allegations involving his family.

Political parties agreed to hold the two-day hearing on Sept. 2-3, according to lawmakers sitting on the legislation and judiciary committee.

The last-minute deal was reached after the ruling party threatened to hold a “people’s hearing” Tuesday where Cho could clarify allegations to the public.

Public uproar mounted over his qualifications amid a series of scandals ranging from illicit college admission allegations about Cho’s daughter and his family’s dubious investment in a private equity fund (PEF) and other corruption allegations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the ramming through of yet another government official with corruption allegations against them continues to show the hypocrisy of the Moon administration that came to power vowing to fight for a “fair and just society”:

President Moon Jae-in said “there is a saying that corruption turns everything into naught. we must fight corruption in order to realize a fair and just society.” And he also added that “over the past several years, the power squeezed the livelihood of the people through unjust and corruptive ways and wasted the people’s tax money as if their own while executing state powers, thereby routinizing cheating and special privileges in our society. 

Cheongwadae, Sept. 2017

It seems the Moon administration is just more Korean governmental business as usual.