President Park’s association with Choi Soon-sil has long been known and I think a lot of people outside her administration suspected Choi was up to no good. However, I don’t think this scandal would have blown up the way it has if it wasn’t for the tablet computer found in Choi’s old office by JTBC News. In my opinion that tablet computer that confirmed what a lot people already believed is really what caused this scandal, not some gigantic left wing conspiracy:
President Park Geun-hye called the massive corruption scandal involving her and her confidant Choi Soon-sil a “huge mountain heaped up with lies” in an interview Wednesday.
It was her first interview with the media since she was impeached over the influence-peddling scandal Dec. 9. To defend herself, the President opted for a podcast program, “Jeong Kyu-jae TV” operated by the chief editor of the Korea Economic Daily, a conservative website, instead of major newspapers or broadcasters.
In the one-hour interview, Park said she felt that the scandal had been plotted for a long time. “It seems the ongoing things are not accidental,” she said. But when asked whether she thought specific figures might have plotted it, she declined to comment.
She also denied all allegations and rumors surrounding her, such as she shared an economic interest with Choi, that she frequently used propofol, and that she had an affair with her former aide Chung Yoon-hoi, Choi’s ex-husband.
“The series of nonsense show how misunderstanding, fiction and lies are piled up,” she said. “Such huge lies show how weak the grounds for my impeachment were.”
Park said Choi was a longtime friend who helped her, but she came to know many new things about her as the scandal emerged, implying she did not know _ and was not involved in _ Choi’s alleged corruption. [Korea Times via a reader tip]
It appears South Korean prosecutors have been able to flip Choi Soon-sil’s niece and she is testifying against her. With Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong saying he felt pressured him to give money to Choi’s foundation and her own niece confirming the allegation, it seems the prosecutors have a very strong case against her now:
Chang Si-ho (front, L), Kim Chong (front, C) and Choi Soon-sil (front, R) stand trial at the Seoul Central District Court on Jan. 17, 2017. (Yonhap)
Choi Soon-sil, the woman at the center of a South Korean presidential impeachment scandal, clashed with a niece Tuesday over allegations they coerced Samsung Group into making donations to a sports foundation under their control.
Choi, her niece Chang Si-ho and former Vice Culture and Sports Minister Kim Chong were summoned to the Seoul Central District Court to testify on allegations they colluded to extort more than 1.6 billion won (US$1.35 million) in donations from the nation’s largest business group to the Korea Winter Sports Elite Center, which was established in June 2015.
Chang early on admitted that they forced the donations from Samsung and that she embezzled funds from the center. Her admission came a day after special prosecutors investigating the scandal sought an arrest warrant for Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong on charges of bribery.
According to the prosecutors, Lee was involved in Samsung’s decision to give up to 43 billion won to various organizations linked to Choi in return for the Park Geun-hye administration’s backing of a merger between two companies belonging to the conglomerate in 2015. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but what I haven’t seen strong evidence of yet is how President Park Geun-hye was involved in all of this?
It will be interesting to see if the prosecutors have the evidence to prove their case because Samsung and the women behind the ROK Presidential scandal Choi Soon-sil as well as President Park Geun-hye are denying everything:
Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., leaves the special prosecutor’s office in Seoul on Jan. 13, 2017, after 22 hours of questioning over allegations Samsung Group offered financial aid to President Park Geun-hye’s longtime friend Choi Soon-sil, the woman at the center of a massive corruption scandal, in return for business favors. (Yonhap)
Special prosecutors on Monday requested an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-yong, Samsung Group’s de facto leader, on charges of bribery, embezzlement and perjury in connection with an influence-peddling scandal that led to President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment.
Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., is accused of giving or promising to give some 43 billion won (US$36.3 million) worth of bribes to Park’s jailed friend Choi Soon-sil in return for the state-run pension fund’s backing of a merger of two Samsung affiliates, the team’s spokesman Lee Kyu-chul told a regular press briefing.
Samsung signed a 22 billion won consulting contract in August 2015 with a Germany-based firm owned by the woman who is at the center of the scandal and allegedly sent the company billions of won, which was used to fund her daughter’s equestrian training, according to prosecutors. The money that was originally promised to be handed over was included in the amount deemed as bribes, Lee, the spokesman, said.
Some 20.4 billion won the group donated to two nonprofit foundations, allegedly linked to Choi, was also viewed as a kickback. It was the largest amount given by any business group to the organizations.
Prosecutors suspect Samsung supported Choi in return for the National Pension Service (NPS) approving the contested merger of two Samsung subsidiaries on July 17, 2015. [Yonhap]
Choi Soon-sil, a longtime friend of President Park Geun-hye who is indicted on charges of abuse of power and attempted fraud, is taken to the Seoul Central District Court on Jan. 13, 2017, to attend the third hearing of her trial on the massive influence-peddling scandal that has led to the president’s impeachment. (Yonhap)
If President Park was pressuring Lee Jae-yong to have Samsung donate millions of dollars to Choi Soon-sil’s organizations in return for political favors this would justify the impeachment:
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong leaves the special counsel team’s office in southern Seoul on Jan. 13, 2017, after being questioned for 22 hours in connection with a corruption scandal. (Yonhap)
Lee Jae-yong, Samsung Group’s de facto leader, has claimed that President Park Geun-hye forced his company to provide billions of won to various organizations linked to her confidante at the center of a corruption scandal, an official said Friday.
Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., made the claim to a special probe team investigating the widening scandal involving Park and her friend Choi Soon-sil, the official close to the team said. His latest statement does not match what he said at a parliamentary hearing held last month. At the time, Lee said the president only talked about matters related to the conglomerate and its investment plans during a private meeting in 2015. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but Lee’s story differs from what he said last month that he was not pressured to give money to Choi. However, according to this KBS report Lee said that he was pressured by Park to give money, but he did not request any political favors in return:
The decision on whether or not to request an arrest warrant for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong for his links to the Choi Soon-sil scandal may come as early as Saturday.
The independent counsel team’s spokesman Lee Kyu-chul told reporters on Friday that a decision regarding Lee, who faces bribery and perjury charges, will come on Saturday or Sunday.
The team is said to be leaning toward requesting the warrant as it believes Lee was deeply involved in giving Choi and her family hefty sums of money in return for government support for Samsung C&T’s merger with Cheil Industries in 2015.
The team led by Park Young-soo will also take into account conflicting statements he made from his testimony during a hearing last month at the National Assembly.
Lee returned home at around 8 a.m. Friday after undergoing 22 hours of investigation by the independent counsel team.
The Samsung heir is said to have told investigators that though it’s true that Samsung Group extended huge amounts of money to Choi and her family due to pressure from President Park Geun-hye’s, the funds were not given in return for favors. [KBS World Radio]
I guess we will see how this plays out in the coming days.
Here is a good read about how the JTBC journalist track down Chung Yoo-ra in Denmark. As it turns out it really wasn’t that hard to find her:
This is the inside story of how Chung Yoo-ra was captured in Aalborg, Denmark. An enterprising TV reporter from South Korea drove all night and tracked Chung down in a rented house in northern Denmark. Inside, he found Chung, her 19-month old baby, 2 horse caretakers, a nanny, 3 dogs and 9 cats. It was quite an entourage. What’s sad about this story is that Chung and her adult enablers became fugitives because this is the only way they knew how to behave. It may seem improbable and ludicrous for a single mom to be on the run with her toddler, adult hangers-on and 12 furry animals. However, this is completely rational from the viewpoint of Chung, who never had to face consequences and always got her way while being raised in South Korea. [All News Korea]
You can read the rest at the link, but not only did she have a large entourage, but she was hiding out in a large rented estate that she was known to keep horses at. You would think with all the money Choi Soon-sil had that she would have hired someone competent to help her daughter hide out.
This seems a bit overkill to put the guy in a prison jump suit, handcuff him and perp walk him in front of the media for having a teaching assistant take a test for a student:
Lyou Chul-gyun, center, better known by his penname Yi In-hwa, was arrested by the police on Jan. 1. He is one of several faculty members at Ewha Womans University who were systematically involved in the plot to help Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of the scandal-ridden Choi Soojn-sil, maintain her student status by granting academic favors. / Yonhap
4 years after he rose to literary stardom for his 1993 fiction “Eternal Empire” which sold over 1 million copies.
The then-27-year-old writer fascinated his readers with the well-investigated historical fiction about the murder of Joseon King Jeongjo (1752-1800), a conspiracy theory that had been passed down for centuries through the descendents of the Noron faction, one of the two dominant political factions of the Joseon era.
Owing to his early success, he was able to become a full-time faculty member at Ewha Womans University when he was 29 years old, even before completing his doctoral degree at Seoul National University’s Department of Korean Studies.
But the reason for Lyou’s recent reemergence into the public eye is something disgraceful. He is under fire for coercing his teaching assistant to take the final exam of his “Understanding Storytelling in Movies” course on behalf of Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of the trouble-hit Choi Soon-sil. Chung never showed up for his class all semester and didn’t even take the final exam. But she earned a passing grade to maintain her status as a student, stirring suspicions of academic fraud.
Lyou, 51, reportedly threatened his reluctant assistant into helping, saying she would face the consequences if she rejected his call because she would be blacklisted and as a result would never be able to find a job in a university or research institution even after successfully defending her dissertation. He was arrested earlier this week.
Lyou is one of several faculty members at Ewha Womans University who were systematically involved in the plot to help Chung maintain her student status by granting academic favors, despite her substandard academic performance. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but it appears that anyone even remotely related to the Choi Soon-sil influence peddling scandal can expect to get perp walked in a prison jump suit for the Korean media.
The real question I have which the Korean media so far has no interest in answering is, how prevalent in Korean universities is this special treatment for well connected students? I find it hard to believe that Chung Yoo-ra was the only person getting special treatment.
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, the friend of impeached President Park Geun-hye, gives an interview to a group of Korean reporters during a break in a detention hearing at a local court in Aalborg, a northern city in Denmark, on Monday. [YONHAP]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 Yoo-ra, the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, the confidante of disgraced President Park Geun-hye, in custody after her court hearing Monday, in Aalborg, Denmark. Korean authorities are understood to be working to get Chung Yoo-ra returned home in connection with an alleged corruption scandal. [AP/YONHAP]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]
