Independent counsel probe to start early next month

By Rachel Lee

An independent counsel will be able to begin an investigation into the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil early next month, if the selection and appointment procedures go smoothly, officials said Friday.

On Thursday, the National Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill for the investigation, which is separate from the ongoing probe by the prosecution.

Under the bill, the counsel can operate a team of up to 20 prosecutors and 40 investigators to execute the probe for up to 120 days. The counsel will spend 20 days on forming the team and will look into 14 separate allegations that have been raised against Park and Choi. The counsel can demand the investigation of the President be extended once by 30 days.

The team will look into allegations that Choi and An Chong-bum, senior secretary for policy coordination to the president, set up the Mir and K-Sports foundations as fundraising vehicles for her personal benefit and that Cheong Wa Dae pressured large conglomerates to donate 80 billion won to establish the foundations.

The probe will also look into Choi’s daughter Chung Yoo-ra’s suspicious admission and grading at Ewha Womans University, as well as the revelation that Chungdam High School gave Chung favors in grading and attendance despite not fulfilling the qualifications to graduate, all of which are believed to have been due to her mother’s influence.

The investigation will also further probe into President Park’s former senior secretary for civil affairs Woo Byung-woo’s alleged failure of his duties that included monitoring corruption in ranking public officials and presidential aides, as he is highly likely to have known about Choi’s alleged meddling in state affairs.

The panel will also investigate allegations that a plastic surgeon received preferential treatment from the government after treating Choi, accompanying the President on an overseas trip. This probe is expected to eventually find out what happened during the President’s suspicious “seven missing hours” during the Sewol ferry disaster on April 16, 2014, which killed more than 300 passengers on board, mostly high school students on a school excursion.

The doctor’s plastic surgery clinic in southern Seoul is embroiled in rumors that Kim performed Botox treatments for the President while the nation’s worst maritime disaster took place.

Cheong Wa Dae has never given a clear explanation about what the President was doing during those hours, just repeating she was in her office working.

This prompted public outrage and demands for the truth behind the accident.

The opposition parties have started discussions to pick candidates for the independent counsel ― former Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook has emerged as a leading candidate.