By Kang Seung-woo
Suspicious deals surrounding a 60-year-old woman who has reportedly “served” President Park Geun-hye for a long time are emerging as a hot-button political issue with opposition parties demanding a thorough investigation.
During a parliamentary interpellation session at the National Assembly, rival parties clashed over the scandal as the opposition ramped up their offensive, calling it power-related corruption; while the ruling party disregarded it, claiming that the opposition were launching a groundless political offensive.
The woman, Choi Seo-won, who is better known as Soon-sil _ her birth name _ was reportedly involved in the creation of two foundations _ the Mir Foundation and the K-Sports Foundation _ over the past year.
Conglomerates allegedly “donated” some 80 billion won ($71.8 million) to the foundations, but some media reports say Park’s aides at Cheong Wa Dae might have used their influence to coerce the donations.
Adding fuel to the controversy, it was belatedly known that Lee Seok-soo, an independent presidential investigator who recently quit amid a struggle with Park’s aides, conducted an internal probe in July into one of the aides _ senior presidential secretary for policy coordination An Chong-bum _ over allegations that he was involved in the fund raising, according to the Hankyoreh, a local daily.
However, the investigation by Lee angered the President, and he eventually offered to quit due to allegations that he violated regulations by leaking information about his ongoing probe into Woo Byung-woo, the scandal-ridden senior civil affairs secretary, the report added. His resignation has yet to be accepted.
At that time, Cheong Wa Dae exceptionally issued a strong response to the information leak, calling it a “breach of the law.”
Opposition parties question how the two newly created foundations raised the massive funds from conglomerates in such a short time, claiming the presidential office _ particularly An, a former chief secretary for economic affairs _ exerted influence in the fundraising.
Amid the escalating controversy surrounding her confidant, President Park said Thursday that unconfirmed accusations and rampant slander during an “emergency situation like this” would cause social disorder and intensify the confusion.
“We will not be able to overcome the current complex challenges, should we fail to put up a united front,” she said in a meeting with her senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae.
Choi Seo-won is the daughter of the late pastor Choi Tae-min, a mentor of Park, and an ex-wife of the President’s former aide Jeong Yun-hoe.
“After obtaining information that An forced the Federation of Korean Industries and large companies to cough up donations, we launched internal investigations into the companies in July,” the Hankyoreh reported an official who worked for Lee as saying.
“The probe was focused on finding who was behind the forced donations, but after Lee was embroiled in the leak allegations and tendered his resignation, it was discontinued.”
The independent presidential investigator mainly deals with corruption cases involving the president’s relatives and aides.
The report indicated that the presidential office pushed Lee to resign to stop his investigation from expanding.
Currently, the prosecution has information about the investigation into the foundations in its possession after it raided Lee’s office last month, according to the report.
However, in response, the presidential office said it had not received any report about the investigation from Lee.
According to regulations, when launching a formal probe, the investigator must report it to the president.
“The relevant authorities need to conduct thorough investigations into the scandal, leaving no doubt,” said National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun in a press conference.
Main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea floor leader Rep. Woo Sang-ho also said, “Corruption scandals like those that were common under the dictatorships have resurfaced. It is a shame.”
“Cheong Wa Dae must make it clear for whom the foundations were established,” he added.
Minor Justice Party Chairwoman Rep. Sim Sang-jeung claimed that President Park was raising funds for her retirement, given that a similar case took place for former President Chun Doo-hwan.
In response, Rep. Kim Tae-heum of the ruling Saenuri Party, said, “Groundless allegations are rampant. The opposition block continues to mount political offensives with malicious intentions.”
In addition, the rival parties also clashed over whom to summon for next week’s parliamentary audit and failed to appoint witnesses.
Opposition members of the National Assembly Education, Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee claimed that Choi should appear as a witness along with officials from the two foundations, but Saenuri Party members opposed this, saying the parliamentary audit should not be misused for exaggerating allegations.