Ex-presidential aide grilled again
Woo Byung-woo, one of the key aides of former President Park Geun-hye, lowers his head as he enters the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul for questioning, Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Jung Min-ho
Woo Byung-woo, the former civil affairs secretary for ousted President Park Geun-hye, has been grilled over his role in the corruption scandal that removed her from office.
Woo, the last piece of the puzzle the prosecution has been missing in its investigation into the scandal, is accused of aiding and abetting Park’s friend Choi Soon-sil in meddling in state affairs by abusing his power.
He appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning at around 10 a.m., Thursday.
Woo was apparently conscious of the public outcry over his “arrogant” attitude, which has been on everyone’s lips after his previous public appearances.
In a somewhat remorseful tone this time, he said, “I feel heartbroken about what has happened to former President Park. I will answer every question faithfully during the interrogation.”
This was the third time for Woo to be questioned about the scandal, following appearances in November before the prosecution and again in February before an independent counsel team.
With him as the sole exception, all the other key suspects, including Park, scores of high-ranking government officials and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, have already been arrested.
Woo, who worked at Cheong Wa Dae from May 2014 to October 2016, allegedly abused his power to manipulate government officials and penalize those who were uncooperative with the Park administration.
When the presidential office created a blacklist of artists to selectively support those friendly to the government, Woo allegedly played a key role in pressuring uncooperative officials to toe the line. Prosecutors suspect that he targeted innocent officials for inspection only to “discipline” them.
Taking advantage of Park’s trust in him, Woo also allegedly attempted to remove Lee Seok-soo, a former independent presidential investigator, because he was looking into suspicions of his wrongdoings brought up by the media last year. Lee eventually resigned for unclear reasons.
Moreover, Woo is suspected of impeding the investigation into the sinking of the ferry Sewol in 2014 by pressuring prosecutors not to search and seize the computer server in a Coast Guard situation room. Prosecutors suspect that he did so to protect Park, who was missing during the crucial first seven hours of the sinking that resulted in the deaths of 304 passengers.
The result of the questioning of Woo will be critical for the prosecution, which must regain public trust to avoid a major reform that all major presidential hopefuls vow to make.
Following reports that he exchanged dozens of phone calls with Prosecutor General Kim Soo-nam while he was being investigated by Lee, public trust in the prosecution was eroded. Many still remain skeptical that the prosecution will do much to bring the former prosecutor to justice as he reportedly knows many of its “dirty secrets.”
The first attempt to arrest him failed when a court rejected the independent counsel team’s request for a warrant in February, citing a lack of evidence.
Prosecutors will review whether to seek an arrest warrant after questioning him.
On the same day, prosecutors again questioned Park at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province.
Han Woong-jae, a senior prosecutor who previously interrogated her, arrived at the facility at around 11 a.m. with assistant investigators.
This was the second time for Park to be questioned at the facility, following the first session two days earlier.
Lawyer Yoo Young-ha, who has helped her throughout the investigation, was present during the interrogation.
Park, who is charged with 13 crimes, including bribery, abuse of authority and the passing of confidential state information to an unauthorized person — Choi, has denied all the allegations, claiming that she did not do anything illegal or order her aides to do so to help Choi.
For prosecutors, one of the most important tasks is to prove the bribery charge against Park and Choi, in which they allegedly colluded to take money from major companies in return for business favors.
Prosecutors have already confirmed that the companies gave money to the Mir and K-Sports foundations controlled by Choi, but they still need to prove that Choi and Park made “deals” with the firms and shared the profits in order to indict everyone involved on bribery charges.
As part of their investigation, prosecutors will summon Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, today. The company, which gave 4.5 billion won to the shady foundations, is suspected of receiving favors from the government in the duty free bidding process to recover its lost license.