Cheong Wa Dae hit for lax perception of election scandal

Presidential Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, left, speaks during a session at the National Assembly on Nov. 29. Yonhap

By Do Je-hae

Cheong Wa Dae has been embroiled in widening allegations that its civil affairs office may have meddled in local elections last year in Ulsan in favor of candidates from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

The allegations arose during the prosecution's ongoing investigation into controversial former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, who was the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs at the time of the local elections in April 2018.

This is not the first time the presidential civil affairs office has become the center of controversy. The office under Cho's leadership came under fire last year for allegedly collecting intelligence on a wide range of government agencies and officials through the operation of a “special inspection team.”

The allegation of “illegal spying” was widely seen as a harbinger of more trouble to come for Cheong Wa Dae's civil affairs office. The latest reports said the prosecution attempted a search of the civil affairs office early Wednesday. The office is also under suspicion that it meddled in a police investigation into corruption allegations regarding former Vice Mayor of Busan Yoo Jae-soo, one of President Moon Jae-in's closest confidants.

The suspicions surrounding the civil affairs office have captured media and public attention. The current administration has been careful since day one to set itself apart from previous administrations by keeping away from illegalities such as election meddling and power abuse which often appeared in previous administrations. But Cheong Wa Dae's responses so far lack a precise grasp of the gravity of the allegations regarding the activities of the civil affairs office under Cho's leadership and the possible “crippling” impact on the Moon administration.

In particular, the presidential office's explanation following the death Sunday of a former investigator who worked under Baek Won-woo, a former presidential secretary for civil affairs, has spurred doubts. Cheong Wa Dae has underlined that circumstances leading to the death have nothing to do with the local elections. The deceased was scheduled to be questioned by the prosecution regarding suspicions that Cheong Wa Dae had ordered a police investigation into Kim Gi-hyeon, a former mayor of Ulsan and candidate of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) in the Ulsan mayoral election. He lost to the DPK's Song Cheol-ho, who is one of the key members of Moon's circle.

Former Ulsan Mayor Kim Gi-hyeon, right, said he will launch a legal battle to protest the outcome of the April 2018 mayoral election in Ulsan during a press conference at the National Assembly on Dec. 2. Yonhap

“The deceased carried out inherent duties of the civil affairs office and had nothing to do with the allegations regarding the Ulsan mayoral election,” presidential spokesperson Ko Min-jung said during a briefing, Tuesday.

In a previous briefing, she said the former investigator's visit to Ulsan ahead of the local election was in connection with the “whale meat incident.” The incident refers to a controversy between the police and the prosecution regarding an investigation into the illegal capture and distribution of whale meat, a delicacy in Ulsan. Presidential Chief of Staff Noh Young-min also mentioned the incident as the reason for the special inspection team's visit to Ulsan during a session at the National Assembly on Nov. 29. But opposition parties have argued the explanation lacks credibility.

The presidential office has also blamed the media and the prosecution for spreading false information, while remaining silent about some of the core questions on the people's minds. For starters, there is huge public focus on whether Cheong Wa Dae had actually commanded the investigations into the former Ulsan mayor. During a press conference last week, the ex-mayor claimed he had obtained evidence that Cheong Wa Dae had ordered an “intentional” investigation against him.

Moon made a couple of public speeches but did not mention the allegations surrounding his civil affairs office.