By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Conservatives said Monday that prosecutors are pressed to wrap up the Shin Jeong-ah scandal as the scandal is seen to be overshadowing the nomination race of the pro-government party and the second inter-Korean summit.
A spokesman of the Grand National Party (GNP) said in a statement that ``there seems to be someone behind Shin's decision of coming back to Seoul for the investigation.''
A week ago, Shin said in an interview that she had ``no plan to return to Seoul in the near future.''
The GNP statement said Shin's decision to cooperate with the prosecutors might be a reflection that Cheong Wa Dae, the pro-government party and prosecutors share a vested joint interests in her return to Seoul.
According to the GNP, the prosecutors are feeling pressured dealing with the politically sensitive case and might want to wrap up the case as soon as possible in order to reduce the number of high-profile victims.
The GNP spokesman said the prosecutor's investigation into the case was very slow in the beginning, 40 days after Dongguk University filed a lawsuit against Shin.
``Now the prosecutors are trying to conclude the investigation quickly and consequently a left-wing conspiracy comes out,'' the GNP statement said.
Following the outbreak of the fraudulent degree scandal, liberals have expressed discontent that media frenzy over the scandal has overshadowed the nomination race and the upcoming inter-Korean summit.
The race of the pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP) is underway and four provinces have completed the primaries. Former Unification Minister Chung Dong-young ranked first. The final winner will be announced on Oct. 15.
The South-North summit is scheduled to take place from Oct. 2 to 4 in Pyongyang.
Lawmakers of the UNDP expressed that it is hardly expected these major events will help boost the popularity of the contenders of the pro-government party, as the fake degree scandal and its spillover effects have already made media headlines.
Rep. Shim Jae-chul of the GNP said the presidential office denied his request to submit the data showing the number of times Shin visited Cheong Wa Dae since 2003.
He insisted the presidential office did not allow him to look at the data because they were concerned that his access to the information could indicate the mastermind behind the scandal.
Liberals dismissed the left-wing conspiracy raised by the GNP.
Rep. Yang Seoung-jo of the UNDP told The Korea Times that it is inappropriate that the GNP is trying to link the investigation to a plot to conclude the case prematurely.
``The nature of this case is no more than a fraudulent degree scandal initiated by a greedy individual. And the case has no elements of a corruption scandal related to high-profile politicians,'' Yang said.