This photo, taken on Jan. 3, 2017, shows an equestrian center in the northern Danish city of Aalborg, where Chung Yoo-ra practiced before her arrest two days earlier. Chung, the daughter of Choi Soon-sil who’s at the center of a corruption scandal that has led to South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment, is suspected of receiving favors from a Seoul college in the admissions process and on tests by leveraging her mother’s ties to the president. (Yonhap)
The most wanted Korean woman in the world who was on the run in Germany has now been arrested in Denmark:
Chung Yoo-ra
The daughter of President Park Geun-hye’s close friend, who is at the heart of an influence-peddling scandal that has led to the president’s impeachment, has been arrested in Denmark, police said Monday.
According to the National Police Agency, law enforcement authorities in the European country notified their South Korean counterparts that Chung Yoo-ra was arrested in the northern Danish city of Aalborg on Sunday on charges of illegal stay.
Chung, a former member of the national equestrian team, is suspected of receiving undue favors from Seoul-based Ewha Womans University regarding admission and academic affairs by taking advantage of her mother’s ties to the president.
Special prosecutors looking into the corruption scandal allegedly surrounding President Park and her friend Choi Soon-sil had requested that Interpol put Choi’s daughter on the wanted list after she declined to respond to the investigation team’s repeated summons.
The investigation team said it is collaborating with the relevant bodies to bring Chung to South Korea.
The justice ministry said it has submitted an extradition request to the National Police Agency to swiftly get Chung back home. [Yonhap]
Interestingly according to the Danish media it was a Korean journalist who tracked down Chung:
The daughter of Choi Soon-Sil, the woman at the centre of a corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea’s President, has been arrested in Denmark after months in hiding, Seoul prosecutors said on Monday.
Chung Yoo-Ra, the 20-year-old daughter of the woman dubbed South Korea’s “Rasputin”, is one of the figures in the influence-peddling scandal that sparked massive street protests demanding the removal of President Park Geun-Hye.
Danish police arrested Chung on Sunday night for overstaying her visa, Korean prosecutors said, adding they were in talks with Danish authorities to have her deported to Seoul.
Chung was arrested in the northern town of Aalborg after a tip-off from a Korean journalist, Danish police said in a statement on Monday.
At a court hearing at 1pm on Monday, police would ask that Chung be detained “until the issue of extradition is decided upon”.
Danish police said Chung was aware that South Korean authorities wanted to talk to her. She was in the country “in connection with equestrian sports”. [The Local]
Here is more details about the arrest from the Copenhagen Post which reveals that JTBC the Korean news organization who found the tablet computer the opened up the entire South Korean Presidential scandal are the ones that tracked her down:
Five South Korean nationals were arrested in Aalborg last night under suspicion they are illegally staying in the country.
However, this is no ordinary case, and it has grabbed the attention of the international media.
One of those under custody is Chung Yoo-ra, 20, the daughter of a confidant of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who a special investigation team want to question in connection with the leader’s impeachment.
In recent days, South Korea’s foreign ministry has been making great efforts to track her down, enlisting the help of the German authorities and even Interpol.
But in the end, it was thanks to a number of South Korean journalists at JTBC TV that the Danish police were able to find her in the north Jutland city last night at 19:00.
Questionable paperwork
It is believed that Chung had the necessary visa to partake in equestrian training in Germany, but that the ministry has subsequently tried to invalidate it.
The authorities in Denmark, which has an extradition treaty with South Korea, reportedly have until 19:00 today to charge Chung will illegally staying in Denmark. [Copenhagen Post]
It seems that Chung was pretty incompetent in regards to hiding considering she was traveling with an entourage of Koreans and staying at luxury hotels. The fact she was on the run with a one-year child further made her stand out. She stood out enough that the JTBC reporter was able to find her. What will be interesting is the evidence that the ROK authorities have to produce to show she was in Denmark illegally.
When Chung does end up back in South Korea it will be interesting to see if her arrest cracks her mom, Choi Soon-sil to give up whatever information she knows that could implicate former President Park Geun-hye in any corruption. It seems that the ROK authorities working so hard to arrest Chung is an indication they don’t have a lot of solid evidence yet to prove corruption.
