Hearings cause further confusion

Suspects and witnesses in the Choi Soon-sil scandal take an oath to tell only the truth ahead of the National Assembly’s hearing, central Seoul, Wednesday. But some may have not kept the oath, as their testimonies were often contradictory. / Yonhap

Key witnesses only deny allegations

By Lee Kyung-min

The much-awaited two-day National Assembly hearings on the influence-peddling scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil have failed to produce tangible results after multiple key witnesses failed either to appear or give clear answers, coupled with the witnesses being unprepared for the line of questioning.

Of the 27 witnesses who were asked to appear before the parliamentary inquiry, almost half, or 13 people, were absent. They included Choi, her daughter Chung Yoo-ra, as well as former and incumbent senior presidential aides Woo Byung-woo, Jeong Ho-seong, An Chong-bum, Lee Jae-man and An Bong-geun.

The opposition parties could have used the hearings to aggravate negative public sentiment toward the President ahead of the impeachment vote today, but they failed to do so and rather gave the suspects a chance to defend themselves.

During Wednesday’s questioning, lawmakers failed to establish that former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon and Choi conspired to advance their interests with the support of President Park.

While expectations were high that the appearance of Kim, who held the most powerful position from August 2013 to February 2015, would greatly help shed light on the alleged influence-peddling activities, his repeated answers such as “I do not know” and “I do not know her (Choi)” only helped him publicly maintain his claim of innocence.

While Kim was also questioned about the President’s seven-hour absence on the day of the Sewol ferry sinking on April 16, 2014, Kim gave no new answers, but just kept saying Park stayed inside Cheong Wa Dae.

Kim was also of no help in verifying the allegation that Park spent some of those hours getting her hair done by hairdressers.

The lawmakers also failed to prove the alleged corrupt link among Choi, Kim and former Vice Culture Minister Kim Chong.

While Kim Chong told the prosecution earlier that Kim Ki-choon introduced Choi to him, he changed his stance Wednesday and said that he met Choi through another acquaintance, adding confusion.

A former commercial director Cha Eun-taek also denied allegations that he often had late night meetings at Cheong Wa Dae. Cha claimed Choi and Ko Young-tae, another key suspect in the scandal, were very close, while Ko denied it.

Meanwhile, response was split over the allegation that Kim Chong pressured Samsung Group into giving 1.6 billion won ($1.4 million) to a children’s winter sports center managed by Jang Si-ho, Choi’s niece.

While Kim Jae-yeol, the president of Cheil Industries, a Samsung affiliate, said that Kim Chong asked him for the money when they met at a hotel in Seoul, Kim Chong denied this. The lawmakers could not do anything about the contradictory testimonies.

Similarly, business leaders at Tuesday’s hearing all denied the allegations that they offered money to Choi’s foundations in return for any business favors, just saying that they were unable to refuse Cheong Wa Dae’s request.

Following their combined attempt to dodge bribery charges, the independent counsel will have to deal with the many unanswered allegations.