Choi Soon-sil - Shaman or con artist?

Choi Soon-sil

By Oh Young-jin

If Choi Soon-sil is a shaman as indicated by some media outlets, she is one who is different from what we know as "mudang," a Korean exorcist.

When she slinked her way into Incheon International Airport, the 60-year-old confidant of President Park Geun-hye was captured on a security camera carrying a Tods handbag, the same brand sported by Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, although Tods denied Choi's bag was its merchandise.

Choi also wore what appeared to be a Moncler padding coat.

In a melee of journalists and NGO representatives at the prosecutors' office, one of Choi's Prada shoes slipped off in a Cinderella moment. Not a prince but a security guard picked it up and returned it to her. So far, she could be as much a devil as Ms. Priestly in "The Devil wears Prada."

Conventional wisdom is that mudang usually wear traditional Korean white attire ― that is also often associated with garb worn by a widow whose husband has just died ― and change to colorful costumes when performing a "gut" act of exorcism.

She also "rides" barefoot on a big pair of blades when she is entranced as her act enters the final stage. Choi has not shown any sign of being a traditional shamanistic woman so far. Of course, looks are often deceiving.

According to reports, shaman blood runs in her family. Her father was known to have five names, his last being Choi Tae-min. The elder Choi was said to have started as a shaman with a reputation for having many times more spiritual power than a "normal" mudang. He moved to become a Christian minister who was said to have approached a young President Park when she served as first lady after her mother was assassinated by a Korean-Japanese hired by North Korea. Wikileaks shows the U.S. Embassy here sent home an assessment about Park being under the spell of Choi, described as a Korean Rasputin, after the black magic healer who was said to have sickened the mind of Nicholas II, the last czar of the Russian Empire.

Maybe some of her late father's magic rubbed off on the daughter, who has used it, as her father did, to take control of Park in mind and body.

But Choi's actions are more indicative of her being a con artist, irrespective of whether she is a shaman or not, with her mystic power being one of manipulation. After all, one can be a shaman and crook at the same time.

Choi has known Park for 40 years and stayed with her through good times and bad. For example, Choi put Park under care at her elder sister's big, posh residence after she was slashed in the face during a 2006 campaign as the chairwoman of the then Grand National Party (GNP), the predecessor of the Saenuri Party.

The 40-year con began as Choi, then a 20-year-old college student, supported President Park's "New Mind" movement, the political counterpart of MRA or moral rearmament drive.

When Park became president, the chance for a big caper presented itself. In return for her support, Park wanted to give her blood sister whatever she wanted. In Cheong Wa Dae, Park picked up where her father left off but a different sort of dictatorship transpired by which she indulged Choi to the complete exclusion of others.

Choi used those presidential powers as if hers ― influencing ministers' appointments through her proxies, stealing from state budgets and collecting corporate "donations." Choi must have felt exhilarated as if she were President with Park as her avatar, being secure in the knowledge that nobody knew. Lincolnian wisdom overtook her ― you can fool everybody some of the time; you can fool some of the people all the time but you can't fool everybody all the time. Her underlings "ratted" on her.

There may be more to the two women's relationship than what meets the eye. Denizens of Cheong Wa Dae are highly trained to know how the wind of power changes its direction but many top aides have denied knowing Choi. Does this mean any of the following three: Park has completely shut her aides off, Choi indeed has black magic power or she is a scapegoat for something else?

If Choi is a shaman, she has applied her power to her hustle with a degree of mastery.

Although it requires more investigation, Choi set up several front firms in Europe and allegedly used them to siphon funds off from two foundations where 77 billion won in corporate donations were deposited through the intervention of senior presidential secretaries. Also Samsung Group has sent billions of won to Choi's German company for, more than anything else, the purchase of a 1 billion won horse for Choi's daughter, a dressage competitor. Industry watchers say Samsung pays only when it is worth it ― meaning that Samsung knew Choi was the woman behind the curtain. Samsung has been at a critical juncture as it has moved on a management transition.

Now, the internet is filled with rumors and speculation ― linking anything, everything with Choi the black magic woman. One claims that Choi, now in custody, is an imposter, while another argues that the Sewol ferry sinking was Choi's ploy to pay homage to her late father with a human sacrifice.

There are conflicting accounts about her being a shaman or a shrewd, manipulative woman that had the most powerful woman in the nation under her control.

But one thing that is certain is that irrespective of whether she is a mudang or not, not just President Park but also the entire nation appear "bewitched" with nobody in sight to end her spell.

Oh Young-jin is The Korea Times' chief editorial writer. Contact him at foolsdie5@ktimes.com and foolsdie@gmail.com.