Moon's aide apprehended over illegal campaigning

By Kim Jae-won

The prosecution on Thursday apprehended an aide of Rep. In Jae-keun of the opposition Democratic Party (DP) for allegedly violating the Election Law during the Dec. 19 presidential election while campaigning for the party’s candidate Rep. Moon Jae-in.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office said that its investigators apprehended the man, with the surname Cha, on suspicion of running an unregistered campaign team in a building located in Yeouido, Seoul, during the election.

The prosecution said that the team used social networking services (SNS) and posted material on the internet to help Moon Jae-in in the run-up to the presidential election last December.

Prosecutors said they apprehended the aide because he didn’t respond to a summon from the prosecution the previous day.

“We’ve rather hurriedly apprehended him upon a complaint by the National Election Commission because the statute of limitations of the Election Law violation expires on June 19,” a prosecutor said.

Cha’s apprehension came two days after the prosecution decided to indict former spy agency chief Won Sei-hoon on charges of intervening in the election by running a special SNS team, which allegedly criticized Moon.

“We suspect that the prosecution seeks to water down the National Intelligence Service’s case. We wonder why investigators arrested Cha who did not play a key role in the campaign,” said Rep. Park Yong-jin, spokesman of the DP.

Former NIS chief Won is suspected of ordering agents to post a slew of politically sensitive comments on the Internet in order to sway public opinion in favor of the ruling party candidate Park Geun-hye and critical of the opposition candidates, including Moon, prior to the Dec. 19 election.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office concluded that Won systemically and extensively intervened in domestic politics, in violation of the Public Officials Election Act.

Won could face heavier punishment if he is found guilty of violating the election law, which prohibits civil servants from using their status to intervene in domestic politics.

The prosecution office also said that it has decided to indict Kim Yong-pan, a former head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, on suspicions that he had hampered a police probe into the scandal.

Kim is accused of abusing his authority by pressuring a police investigation team not to delve deeply into the case. Kim is also accused of violating the Police Officers Act and the Public Officials Election Act.