President denies all allegations

President Park Geun-hye holds a New Year’s meeting with a group of journalists at Cheong Wa Dae, Sunday. She appeared before the media 23 days after being impeached by the National Assembly over a presidential corruption and influence-peddling scandal. / Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae

By Kim Hyo-jin

President Park Geun-hye denied, Sunday, all allegations leveled against her regarding her mysterious whereabouts during the sinking of the Sewol and the corruption and influence-peddling scandal involving her confidant Choi Soon-sil.

Park held an unscheduled press conference at Cheong Wa Dae _ her first public appearance since she was impeached, Dec. 9 _ and she used the 50-minute meeting to dismiss allegations surrounding her as “unfair and absurd.”

Park stressed that she was on “normal duty” on the day of the Sewol sinking on April 16, 2014, dismissing allegations of her unknown whereabouts for seven hours as groundless rumors.

“First it was reported that I was having an affair with someone, and then I was engaged in an exorcism ritual. Then it was about me undergoing cosmetic surgery. It was utterly, utterly senseless,” she said.

“I’m sure to say that I was receiving reports on the tragic accident and keeping an eye on it as usual routine.”

She continued, “I ordered that rescuers should not miss any single person left behind through a thorough rescue operation, but then there was a report saying all have been rescued, which made me feel relieved. After it turned out to be false, I intended to head to the emergency measures headquarters immediately. But the security team delayed it. I rushed to the place as soon as everything was ready. I think I did whatever I had to do.”

Park denied the allegation that she had a beauty treatment on the day, saying, “It is totally not true. It is impossible to happen even from a commonsense point of view.”

She added that she did not meet anyone from outside Cheong Wa Dae except a hairdresser and someone who brought medicine for her neck.

She reiterated that she did not seek any personal interest or favor certain companies or figures, refuting charges of collusion with Choi, who is accused of having illegitimately meddled in state affairs and extorting tens of millions of dollars from conglomerates.

She repudiated the bribery allegations that Samsung made a large sum of donations to the two foundations controlled by Choi in return for the presidential office’s support of the conglomerate’s controversial merger of two Samsung units _ Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries.

Park called the allegation linking her to the merger “groundless.”

Her remarks came as an investigation team led by independent counsel Park Young-soo, launched last month, is looking into bribery charges against the President along with other charges including abuse of authority, coercion and mishandling of state secrets.

“I can clearly tell that I did nothing for anyone’s benefit at all,” she said. “Whichever decision I make, it is based on judgment for the country. I’ve never asked here and there to help someone.”

When asked about the suspicion that she directed her former secretary to help KD Corporation, a company run by Choi’s acquaintance, secure the right to supply component parts to Hyundai Motor, she responded strongly, “It is a complete taboo that someone can ask me a favor for personal benefits.”

“I told a secretary to look into this company, rather than ordering support for sure as I heard it has a good level of techniques. I only provided an opportunity to the mid-sized company,” she said.

Regarding the allegations she let Choi meddle in state affairs, she said, “Choi is a decades-long acquaintance. It is just impossible that a mere acquaintance could manage all affairs.”

Analysts were skeptical about the excuse-laden press meeting.

“She at least apologized for whatever commotion she has caused in the previous public speech,” said Yoon Tae-gon, a senior political analyst at Moa Agenda Strategy.

“Now she is insisting there’s nothing she did wrong. People cannot help but question whether or not she is just trying to survive the investigation by the independent counsel.”

The opposition parties bombarded Park’s remarks with criticisms.

“It is questionable why she met reporters while she is not cooperating with the prosecutor’s investigation,” said Ko Yeon-ho, a spokesman of the People’s Party. “She only caused concerns with the public by holding the meeting on New Year’s Day.”

“There was no self-reflection and her lack of communication was still the same,” said Democratic Party of Korea spokesman Rep. Ki Dong-min, noting that Park banned reporters from bringing laptops and mobile phones to the roundtable conference.

“We were just let down again with the President giving hurried excuses amid a looming possibility of impeachment.”