Choi Soon-sil defends herself with lies, excuses
In the left photo, lawmakers leave a detention center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, after questioning Choi Soon-sil there as part of their investigation into corruption allegations surrounding her and President Park Geun-hye, Monday. The detention center allowed the questioning on condition that the lawmakers would not take a photograph of her. In the right photo, lawmakers question Park’s former aides An Chong-bum, left, and Jeong Ho-seong ― who are also key suspects in the scandal ― at a different detention center in Seoul the same day. / Yonhap
By Yi Whan-woo
Choi Soon-sil
Choi Soon-sil, the central figure in a corruption scandal surrounding her and President Park Geun-hye, denied any alleged links to other key suspects during lawmakers’ questioning, Monday.
She answered “No” when the lawmakers asked her whether she knew Park’s three former senior aides ― Kim Ki-choon, Woo Byung-woo and Ahn Jong-beom ― who are suspected of being involved in Choi’s meddling into state affairs to make illicit gains.
Choi also said she did not know Kim Jang-ja, Woo’s mother-in-law who is believed to have used her friendship with Choi for her son-in-law to become Park’s senior secretary for civil affairs.
Regarding a tablet PC that contained evidence of the allegations, she said she first learned about the device in 2012, and does not know how to use such computers.
The National Assembly special committee looking into the scandal questioned Choi for 150 minutes in a detention center where she is being held in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province.
They visited the center to question her after she repeatedly rejected appearing before the parliamentary hearing. The detention center prohibited airing of the questioning and even taking photographs of Choi, prompting protests from the lawmakers. But they were able to question Choi after promising not to take photographs and conduct the interrogation in private.
Led by Rep. Kim Sung-tae of the ruling Saenuri Party, the committee members visited Choi amid lingering suspicions over the scandal despite five hearings that took place at the National Assembly through Dec. 22.
Choi refused to admit charges that she colluded with President Park, although she said she was “ready to serve a life sentence.”
She denied other allegations as well, such as keeping hidden wealth in Germany after extorting Samsung and other major Korean conglomerates and controlling two organizations ― the Mir and K-Sports foundations ― to raise illegal funds.
Choi said she did not want to talk about the President, adding that her body and mind were “too weary and complicated.”
According to Saenuri Party lawmaker Chang Jae-won attended the questioning, Choi did not seem to have any sense of guilt, but shed tears at one moment while talking about her feelings for her daughter.
“She wept when issues about her daughter were brought up,” Chang said.
With Choi’s influence, her daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, was illegally admitted to Ehwa Womans University as a dressage competitor. She is currently in hiding in Germany and is being targeted by independent counsel Park Young-soo who is also investigating the scandal.
Choi claimed that her daughter entered the university “in a fair and objective manner” before quitting the school after the scandal erupted.
As part of the investigation, a separate group of committee members interrogated Ahn and Jeong Ho-sung, Park’s former personal secretary, in a jail in Guro-gu, Seoul where they are being detained.
Jeong was seen as one of “three gatekeepers” who served as secret aides to Choi at Cheong Wa Dae.
Ahn said he never made a single decision and did everything as he was told to by the President concerning the charges brought against him, according to Rep. Lee Hye-woon of the Saenuri Party.
He also said the President “made decisions, made calls, and made executions” concerning activities related to the establishment of the Mir and K-Sports Foundations as well as the extortion of conglomerates such as Samsung, KT, POSCO and Hyundai Motor Group for Choi.
Jeong, who allegedly provided state secrets to Choi, admitted most of the allegations. However, he said he did not take orders from the President concerning every decision he made.
Regarding the mystery over Park’s whereabouts on April 16, 2014, when the deadly Sewol ferry disaster took place, Jeong said he first saw the President at her residence at 2 p.m. the same day.
He said he will work for Park even if he has to serve a jail term.
Choi, Ahn and Jeong first refused to appear for the on-site hearing, claiming their testimony could affect the on-going investigation by the independent counsel.
Also, there is no legal ground to force witnesses to attend a parliamentary hearing.