'Choi appointed KOICA chairman, too': prosecutors

Allegations snowball over Choi’s greed in Myanmar state business

By Lee Kyung-min

President Park Geun-hye’s confidant Choi Soon-sil wielded influence in appointing the chairman of a foreign ministry-affiliated body to facilitate her personal interests in overseas state business in Myanmar, the special prosecution team said Thursday.

According to the team, Choi exercised influence to name Kim In-shik, 68, former chief of the Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX), as the chairman of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), a development aid organization under the foreign ministry. It initially led the state project called "Myanmar K-Town."

This is the latest development in Choi’s suspected involvement in the scrapped state business worth 76 billion won ($65 million), following the admission of former executive of Samsung Electro-Mechanics Yoo Jae-kyung that he was made ambassador to Myanmar on the recommendation of Choi.

Kim was appointed in May last year, two months after Yoo obtained the ambassadorial post.

The former’s surprise appointment to head KOICA, one of only three foreign ministry-affiliated bodies alongside the Korea Foundation and the Overseas Korea Foundation, triggered mounting speculation about outside influence as his 10 successors were all foreign ministry officials.

Kim has no diplomatic expertise, with a stint only in trade as a former official at the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), an affiliate of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Kim and Yoo, both of whom have Choi as a mutual acquaintance, worked in the early 2000s in Frankfurt Germany, a city Choi frequented since the early 1990s to set up numerous companies there.

According to Kim Jae-chun, a consul at Seoul's consulate-general in Ho Chi Minh City, information on an internal server shared only by foreign ministry officials confirmed that Kim and Yoo also worked together in Frankfurt between 2014 and early last year.

KOICA issued a statement denying the allegation that Kim and Choi met with each other in the early 2000s.

Investigation zeroes in on plastic surgeon

Meanwhile, the team sought an arrest warrant for Park Chae-yoon, the wife of Kim Young-jae, the plastic surgeon whose illegal medical treatment of Choi and President Park allegedly violated multiple medical laws.

Park Chae-yoon faces bribery charges for offering former presidential secretary An Chong-bum a luxury bag, a bottle of Ballantine’s 30-year-old whisky, among other presents in exchange for receiving 1.5 billion won ($1.3 million) in government subsidies in 2015 in recognition of a medical thread developed by Y Jacobs Medical, a medical device company owned by the couple.

Park Chae-yoon also faces allegations that he administered beauty treatments to An’s wife. If proven true, further charges against her will be filed, the team said.

The team’s move came amid growing speculation that Cheong Wa Dae helped in the surgeon’s attempts to expand into Middle Eastern countries despite his sub-par medical credentials.

The couple accompanied the presidential delegation to these countries last March, and met with investors from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The team questioned Vice Trade Minister Jeong Man-ki, Thursday, over his knowledge and role in granting the 1.5 billion-won subsidy to the clinic.

This follows allegations raised by Rep. Woo Won-shik of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) that Jeong met with a subordinate of An, the presidential secretary for health and welfare Kim Jin-soo, at An’s behest.

The development of the clinic’s thread, Woo said, was abruptly added at the last minute to the list of projects eligible for state subsidies fostering research an development.

Jeong was questioned whether he was working under the orders of An or other higher figures at Cheong Wa Dae.

Meanwhile, Choi, the central figure in the influence-peddling scandal, remained uncooperative for a second day, following forcible detention at the team’s office after it executed a court-issued warrant to detain her for up to 48 hours.

The team sought a second such warrant after Choi refused to answer questions, citing the team’s “aggressive” methods of interrogation, following a first one issued and executed last week.