'Park's Cheong Wa Dae backed scandal-ridden ex-vice minister'

Rep. Kwak Sang-do of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party walks into a pressroom at the National Assembly in Seoul to give his view on a sex-for-favors scandal involving former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-ui, Tuesday. Kwak, a former senior presidential official in the Park Geun-hye administration, denied the accusation that he interfered with an investigation into Kim. Yonhap

New findings show presidential office aware of sex-for-favors allegation before appointment

By Lee Suh-yoon

The reinvestigation into Kim Hak-ui, a former high-ranking official in the Park Geun-hye administration, is bringing to light new evidence that suggests the Park government was aware its vice justice minister candidate attended sex party arranged by a businessman, but pushed ahead with the appointment in March 2013 anyway.

So far, relevant officials in the former Park government have maintained they did not know of the allegations before the appointment, saying police failed to notify them of their findings before March 13, when Cheong Wa Dae announced the nomination of Kim for the post.

A former senior prosecutor, Kim was appointed as vice justice minister two days after the nomination. But he resigned six days later after allegations surfaced that he attended “sex-for-favors parties” arranged by building contractor Yoon Jung-cheon. The allegations were backed by a leaked video clip that showed a person who looked like Kim at Yoon's holiday apartment in Wonju, Gangwon Province, where dozens of women were brought in to service high-ranking officials in exchange for business favors. In the ensuing investigations, one of the women also claimed she was drugged and raped by Kim and Yoon.

Despite the evidence, the police and prosecutors did not press any charges against Kim after investigations in 2013 and 2014. A review panel under the justice ministry recently ordered the case to be reopened, saying it found evidence the Park administration interfered with the original investigations by transferring police officers in charge. It specifically said Kwak Sang-do, then senior presidential secretary for civil affairs and now a lawmaker of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), should be investigated for abusing his power to interfere with the investigation.

With the reopening of the case being decided, whistleblowers have come to testify against the past administration.

A former government official said the presidential civil affairs office had drawn up its own report about the sex-for-favors allegations against Kim before the nomination, separately from the police's notification, according to Yonhap News. The Cheong Wa Dae report concluded Kim was unfit for the vice minister post, according to the source.

Former high-level police officers have also said they were summoned by Cheong Wa Dae to give an in-person report on the allegations days before the nomination.

Additionally, Rep. Park Young-sun of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea revealed, during a confirmation hearing Wednesday, that Hwang Kyo-ahn, who had been serving as justice minister in 2013 and now heads the LKP, also knew all about the sex-for-favors allegations against Kim, because she told him about the video clip to advise him that he was not the right person for the office.

But all these reports and recommendations did not stop Park from going ahead to appoint Kim. Earlier this week, Rep. Cho Eung-cheon of the DPK, who was Park's secretary for public office discipline at the time, also revealed that his report on Kim was ignored, likely due to “special ties” between Kim and the former president.

Kim tried to leave the country through Incheon International Airport at night on March 22 but was turned back at the boarding gate due to an emergency overseas travel ban.