By Choi Ha-young
Parksamo, scandal-hit President Park Geun-hye’s longtime fan club, is chasing Kim Han-soo, a former Cheong Wa Dae official, believing he will help exonerate the President from the influence-peddling suspicions involving her confidant Choi Soon-sil.
The group offered 10 million won ($8,470) in prize money for catching Kim, who allegedly holds the key to a tablet PC at the center of the scandal. It is alleged Choi edited Park’s speech drafts on the computer.
The bounty follows another one for Woo Byung-woo, presidential secretary-turned-fugitive, who is allegedly one of Choi’s associates. After he disappeared following the prosecution’s questioning, some politicians and citizens offered 18 million won for finding him.
“We will give the money to the person who reports Kim’s whereabouts, or his body in case he has died,” the fan club posted on its website, Tuesday. They are collecting information on possible sightings of Kim.
In October, Kim told the prosecution that he bought the device in 2012 and gave it to another former aide of Park, adding he didn’t know if Choi used it afterward. The prosecution, however, found out that Kim directly handed it to Choi, who is still denying she owned the computer.
Kim resigned from his position last month, and has disappeared, ignoring the National Assembly’s request to attend its hearing, Thursday.
In the meantime, following numerous reports about Woo, he recently told Yonhap News Agency that he would appear at another hearing slated for Dec. 22.