By Jun Ji-hye
The presidential office is accused of having lied about its clandestine investigation of personal data on former Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook, his alleged lover and illegitimate son.
The accusation came after the prosecution secured circumstantial evidence showing that Cheong Wa Dae's senior presidential secretariat for civil affairs, as well as those for education, welfare and administration, attempted to check Chae's personal data in June.
This was three months before the conservative Chosun Ilbo daily first broke the news alleging that Chae had fathered a 12-year-old illegitimate son.
The controversy further intensified because prosecutors are not summoning Cheong Wa Dae officials who were allegedly involved in "illegal surveillance" of civilians, an indication that it is meeting with resistance from the presidential office.
Chae, who was reportedly unpopular with the presidential office over his intense investigation into the spy agency's alleged meddling in the 2012 presidential election, resigned in mid-September, soon after the Chosun Ilbo disclosed the allegation.
When the presidential office, together with the justice ministry, was accused of having orchestrated Chae's removal, it countered that it never checked any personal data of the child and his mother, Lim (Chae's alleged lover), before the report in the Chosun Ilbo.
However, that changed Monday after media reports raised fresh suspicions that a senior presidential secretariat for education checked a teenage boy's elementary school records, and that the office for welfare affairs had an official from the National Health Insurance Corp. (NHIC) check Lim's obstetrician's records.
Cheong Wa Dae in its statement denied these reports, but admitted that relevant senior secretariats, together with police, checked the basic data of people involved in June, after its special inspection bureau obtained intelligence relating to a woman who described herself as Chae's lover.
Separately, the NHIC also confirmed that one of its officials, identified as Han, searched for personal data pertaining to Lim that month.
The remarks were in contrast to those made by senior press secretary Lee Jung-hyun in September, after Chae resigned from the post.
At the time Lee said: "We have never conducted background checks on Chae before we learned about the allegations about his extramarital son in the Chosun Ilbo report."
Lee's comments were made in response to growing speculation at the time over Cheong Wa Dae's alleged attempt to remove Chae, who was intensively digging into efforts by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to indirectly help President Park Geun-hye, then ruling Saenuri Party candidate, win the election.
However, the prosecution's recent investigation reignited suspicions that Cheong Wa Dae secretly and systematically dug into Chae's background to remove him from the post.
The presidential office has yet to express its stance about why it earlier said it did not check the personal data of the child and his mother before the Chosun Ilbo's disclosure in September, although it actually did so in June.
The timing ironically overlapped with the time when Chae indicted former NIS director Won Sei-hoon in June for mobilizing NIS officials to conduct a smear campaign against opposition candidates.
At the time, media reports also abounded that Cheong Wa Dae and the justice ministry exerted pressure on the prosecution to block Won's indictment, which the two entities quickly denied.
Rep. Kim Han-gil, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, argued that President Park should take responsibility.
"Park should actively try to ascertain the truth and punish those involved, because it was eventually revealed that Cheong Wa Dae pulled wires from behind the scenes to remove Chae despite its continuous denials."
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Chae Dong-wook |
The accusation came after the prosecution secured circumstantial evidence showing that Cheong Wa Dae's senior presidential secretariat for civil affairs, as well as those for education, welfare and administration, attempted to check Chae's personal data in June.
This was three months before the conservative Chosun Ilbo daily first broke the news alleging that Chae had fathered a 12-year-old illegitimate son.
The controversy further intensified because prosecutors are not summoning Cheong Wa Dae officials who were allegedly involved in "illegal surveillance" of civilians, an indication that it is meeting with resistance from the presidential office.
Chae, who was reportedly unpopular with the presidential office over his intense investigation into the spy agency's alleged meddling in the 2012 presidential election, resigned in mid-September, soon after the Chosun Ilbo disclosed the allegation.
When the presidential office, together with the justice ministry, was accused of having orchestrated Chae's removal, it countered that it never checked any personal data of the child and his mother, Lim (Chae's alleged lover), before the report in the Chosun Ilbo.
However, that changed Monday after media reports raised fresh suspicions that a senior presidential secretariat for education checked a teenage boy's elementary school records, and that the office for welfare affairs had an official from the National Health Insurance Corp. (NHIC) check Lim's obstetrician's records.
Cheong Wa Dae in its statement denied these reports, but admitted that relevant senior secretariats, together with police, checked the basic data of people involved in June, after its special inspection bureau obtained intelligence relating to a woman who described herself as Chae's lover.
Separately, the NHIC also confirmed that one of its officials, identified as Han, searched for personal data pertaining to Lim that month.
The remarks were in contrast to those made by senior press secretary Lee Jung-hyun in September, after Chae resigned from the post.
At the time Lee said: "We have never conducted background checks on Chae before we learned about the allegations about his extramarital son in the Chosun Ilbo report."
Lee's comments were made in response to growing speculation at the time over Cheong Wa Dae's alleged attempt to remove Chae, who was intensively digging into efforts by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to indirectly help President Park Geun-hye, then ruling Saenuri Party candidate, win the election.
However, the prosecution's recent investigation reignited suspicions that Cheong Wa Dae secretly and systematically dug into Chae's background to remove him from the post.
The presidential office has yet to express its stance about why it earlier said it did not check the personal data of the child and his mother before the Chosun Ilbo's disclosure in September, although it actually did so in June.
The timing ironically overlapped with the time when Chae indicted former NIS director Won Sei-hoon in June for mobilizing NIS officials to conduct a smear campaign against opposition candidates.
At the time, media reports also abounded that Cheong Wa Dae and the justice ministry exerted pressure on the prosecution to block Won's indictment, which the two entities quickly denied.
Rep. Kim Han-gil, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, argued that President Park should take responsibility.
"Park should actively try to ascertain the truth and punish those involved, because it was eventually revealed that Cheong Wa Dae pulled wires from behind the scenes to remove Chae despite its continuous denials."
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