hankyoreh

Choi Sun-sil enters Criminal Courtroom No. 417 at Seoul Central District Court on Dec. 19 for a hearing in her government interference scandal. The hearing was held in the same room where former president Roh Tae-woo and Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee stood trial for using slush funds on Dec. 18

After President Park Geun-hye denied all the grounds for the National Assembly’s motion for impeachment, Choi Sun-sil also appeared in court on Dec. 19 to claim that all eleven charges brought by the prosecutors were false. On top of suspicions that pro-Park lawmakers and Choi’s close aides conspired to make the false claim in a hearing before the National Assembly that the tablet computer does not belong to Choi, Choi’s lawyer also made the same claim and asked the court to inspect the tablet computer. This appears to be aimed at questioning facts confirmed by reporters and the prosecutors, facts that are taken for granted by the public, and to delay the trial as well. It almost makes us wonder if these are the same people who made public apologies and who asked for forgiveness for their horrible crimes.

To be sure, Park and Choi have the right to defend themselves in court. But if their defense goes beyond what the people can stomach, they are only adding to their crimes. It’s disgusting to see them seeking the protection of the law now after brazenly trampling on the constitution and the law.

In the statement she submitted to the Constitutional Court, Park argued that she was unaware that Choi Sun-sil was pursuing her own profit and that she was only “politically and morally responsible” for mistakenly trusting her. She has consistently excused herself on the grounds of complete ignorance and shifted all the blame to Choi. She said she was only getting advice when she leaked the documents and even described Choi as part of a “kitchen cabinet,” using a bit of American jargon.

Choi and her lawyer’s complete denial of all the charges of conspiring with Park was probably an attempt to stay in line with Park’s statement to the Constitutional Court. But for Park to play down Choi’s interference in government affairs as participation in a “kitchen cabinet” when Park avoided even meeting her ministers and Blue House senior secretaries is a cynical attempt to hoodwink the public. It is also simply self-justification that ignores the fact that a substantial number of South Koreans believe that Park and the family of Choi Tae-min (Choi Sun-sil’s father) have worked together in pursuit of the same political and financial interests for 40 years.

Choi and her lawyer even made the following claim in court: “I came back from Germany willing to accept any punishment, and I was interrogated until early in the morning from the day I arrived. The investigation infringed on my rights, since they sent an investigator to the detention center to arrest me illegally.” The fact that Choi asked the court to inspect the tablet computer (which is unrelated to the charges against her), describing it as decisive evidence for the sentencing, looks suspiciously like an attempt to challenge the legitimacy of the impeachment and to undermine the charges against her with conspiracy theories. Considering that former Blue House private secretary Jung Ho-seong, who is charged with using the tablet computer to leak state secrets, has already confessed that Park was his accomplice, there would be little reason for Choi to make these claims unless they were politically motivated.

The team of special prosecutor Park Young-soo held a “signboard-hanging ceremony” on Dec. 21 to mark the official beginning of its investigation. There is plenty of ground to cover in the investigation, including charges of bribery by Park and of abuse of power by former presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon and for Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Woo Byung-woo. Nevertheless, we hope that the investigators will remember their solemn duty to uncover the improper ties between Park and the Choi family and the assets that they have accumulated over the past 40 years and to plainly reveal their true identity before the entire country.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]