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Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo announces the findings of the investigative team

The investigative team of Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo announced on Mar. 6 that President Park Geun-hye is a suspect in conspiring with Choi Sun-sil to accept 43.3 billion won (US$37.5 million) in bribes from Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong.

The next question is what effects the announcement will have on the Constitutional Court‘s decision in Park Geun-hye’s impeachment trial, which is expected to come around Mar. 10. In its 2004 decision in the impeachment trial of then-President Roh Moo-hyun (2003-2008), the court named bribe acceptance charges as one of the chief conditions for impeachment of a president.

Speaking from his office in Seoul‘s Gangnam district on Mar. 6, Park Young-soo announced the final findings from his team’s investigation into Choi’s government interference under the Park Geun-hye administration. The team reported that Choi, 61, was suspected of conspiring with Park to accept equestrian training support for Choi’s daughter Jung Yu-ra, 21, and bribes through the Mir and K-Sports Foundation and Korea Winter Sports Elite Center in exchange for favorable handling of the management succession of Lee, 49. Choi is currently under detention and indictment, while Lee is under detention.

In its indictment for Choi, the team wrote that she had made a proposal to Park around May 2015 to accept money from corporations to establish and run foundations, and that Park had agreed to the idea after deciding to demand foundation funding in exchange for assisting with Lee’s management succession. In the process, Choi and Park conspired to demand and receive bribes from Lee, the indictment said.

While the bribe acceptance charges against Park have yet to be confirmed by a court ruling, they are likely to have at least an indirect impact on the opinions of Constitutional Court Justices, since they undercut her team’s consistent denials of bribery accusations during the impeachment trial. In its design in Roh’s 2004 impeachment trial, the court stated that grounds for impeachment had to constitute a serious enough crime to warrant requesting a president’s removal, citing bribe acceptance, corruption, and clear violations of national interest as examples.

In connection with allegations of a culture and arts blacklist, the Special Prosecutor’s investigative team called the situation a criminal abuse of power orchestrated by the presidential secretariat, with Choi and other behind-the-scenes power brokers joining forces with politicians with partisan legitimacy to relegate Culture Ministry employees to the role of lackeys. The team also said the allegations constituted a serious crime in violation of the essential values of the Constitution.

The team also pointed to a breakdown in the Blue House system for managing the president’s health, with Park receiving treatment from illegal healthcare providers at Choi‘s introduction and undergoing secret treatment by Kim Young-jae rather than an official consulting physician. The team confirmed Choi’s family to have assets totaling over 270 billion won (US$234 million), with Choi’s own assets amounting to 22.8 billion won (US$19.7 million).

“The key targets of this Special Prosecutor’s investigative team were the abuse of power by state authorities for private gain and government-business collusion, which has been a chronic element in corruption in South Korean society,” Park said in a Mar. 6 briefing.

“For the sake of true unity in public opinion, all the facts of government interference must be brought to light, and the true nature of government-business collusion must be clearly revealed. It is on that basis that we will be able to achieve new communication and a future of harmony,” he added.

Yu Yeong-ha, an attorney representing Park Geun-hye, released a statement on Mar. 6 disputing the team’s investigation findings.

“This Special Prosecutor was set up solely through the recommendations of some opposition party members. It has been in violation of the Constitution since its formation, a typical example of a politicized Special Prosecutor, and it has been impossible to ensure fairness from the very start,” Yu continued.

Yu also called the bribery charges “ridiculous fiction.”

Meanwhile, prosecutors set up a second special investigation headquarters on Mar. 6 to investigate the case passed along by the Special Prosecutor. Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office chief Lee Yeong-ryeol, who served as headquarters chief last year, will be doing so again, while the office’s first deputy chief No Seung-gwon will be heading the investigation team. Lee Geun-su, the office’s second deputy chief of high-tech investigation, will be exclusively handling the investigation of former Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs Woo Byung-woo.

at their offices in Seoul’s Gangnam district

By Kim Jeong-pil, Seo Young-ji and Choi Hyun-june, staff reporters

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