Cho Yeo-ok's trip to US was 'unusual'

By Jun Ji-hye

Cho Yeo-ok

The military is facing suspicions that it rushed to send former presidential nurse, Capt. Cho Yeo-ok, to the United States in August when a controversy was brewing over President Park Geun-hye’s “seven missing hours.”

Opposition lawmakers claim that the Army nurse may know what Park was doing for seven hours while the Sewol ferry was sinking on April 16, 2014, but is refusing to reveal the truth. She worked at the presidential office from 2014 to early this year.

Since August, Cho has been taking a course at a U.S. Army hospital in Texas, where she reportedly moved her residence three times. She returned home earlier this month to attend a parliamentary hearing.

She was originally planning to leave for the U.S. again on Dec. 30, but the investigation team led by independent counsel Park Young-soo slapped a travel ban on her, sources said Wednesday.

The military reportedly broke internal rules to send Cho to the U.S. Military sources said she failed to fulfill the necessary conditions to take a training course overseas. She did not go through the two-month language education in Korea required before going aboard to study or train.

Some military observers also pointed out that Cho, who joined the Army in 2011, participated in overseas training four to five years sooner than her colleagues who joined the military around the same time. They said this was quite unusual unless Cho was a greatly outstanding candidate.

Plus, around the time she left for Texas, allegations surrounding President Park’s close friend Choi Soon-sil began to make media headlines, observers added. Choi, who is currently in jail, is at the center of Park’s corruption and influence-peddling scandal, which led to her impeachment by the National Assembly, Dec. 9.

The tragic maritime disaster killed 304 passengers, mostly high school students on a school trip to Jeju Island. The government has been criticized for its bungled rescue operations, while it is still unclear why the President appeared at the emergency measures headquarters seven hours after the tragic incident began.

Owing to the lack of an explanation about Park’s whereabouts on that day, rumors have abounded that she might have been receiving Botox wrinkle treatment or other cosmetic procedures.

The independent counsel has been conducting an investigation to unearth the truth behind the high-profile political scandal as well as her seven missing hours.

The team recently questioned an army lieutenant colonel, who was involved in the military’s decision to send Cho to the U.S., sources noted.

“The team is also analyzing relevant data submitted by the Ministry of National Defense,” a source said on condition of anonymity.

Capt. Cho returned home, Dec. 19, to attend the National Assembly hearing into the scandal.

During the hearing, Dec. 22, the nurse was also embroiled in perjury allegations as she told lawmakers that on the day of the disaster, she was working at a medical office in the presidential complex that was in charge of treating Cheong Wa Dae staff.

The answer was different from her earlier comment she made in a media interview, Nov. 30 that she was working at a medical office set up in the President’s residence.

The ministry said that Cho’s overseas training was unrelated to the political scandal and that the decision to send her to Texas was made after the U.S. Army’s notification of the number of Korean officers to take a course in Texas.