hankyoreh

President Park Geun-hye is taken by car from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul’s Seocho district to Seoul Detention Center

Notebooks left behind by Park Geun-hye’s advisers are leveling charges at the former president as she prepares for trial.

With the notebookss of Ahn Jong-beom, Senior Secretary to the President for Economic Affairs, previously serving as evidence of bribery charges, working notebooks belonging to late former Blue House Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs Kim Young-han, former Vice Minister of Culture Park Min-gwon, and former Senior Secretary to the President for Political Affairs Park Joon-woo have emerged as proof of Park’s involvement in the drafting of a culture and arts blacklist.

Park Joon-woo’s working notebooks, which included detailed records of orders from the President and then-Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon, was unveiled on May 1 at the trial of Kim and others by the 30th criminal division of Seoul Central District Court under judge Hwang Byeong-heon.

The notebooks offered circumstantial evidence that Park Geun-hye had ordered a “purge of leftists” as part of her policies of “correcting the abnormal.”

“We must reclaim power in the cultural world. Nothing was done to purge leftists during [the administration of predecessor Lee Myung-bak](2008-2013), and the country has become abnormal,” it quoted her as saying at a Saenuri Party Supreme Council dinner on Dec. 19, 2013.

Park was also quoted as complaining that “right-wing entertainer groups like Nuristar are not getting appearances.”

At a Blue House senior secretaries’ meeting the day after Park’s remarks, Kim ordered “a full investigation and [corrective] action on the government support situation for leftist groups.”

The notebooks also recorded Park talking about “correcting the abnormal” at an Office for Government Policy Coordination operational briefing the following February.

“We must root it out to the last, not like bulldogs but like Jindo dogs who sink their teeth in and don’t let go until the flesh comes off,” she was quoted as saying. When asked by the Special Prosecutor whether this was a transcription of remarks by Park Geun-hye, Park Joon-woo answered, “Yes.”

While Park Geun-hye’s “Jindo dog” remarks were reported at the time as calling for execution of governance tasks, the circumstances indicated in the notebooks suggest the core of her “correcting the abnormal” message involved eliminating “leftists.” The Special Prosecution investigative team also believe Park received reports from a task force investigation of support to left-wing groups.

Park Joon-woo’s notebooks also contained specific orders from Kim Ki-choon. An entry from Sep. 9, 2013, includes notes such as “Megabox Cheonan movie [‘Project Cheonan Ship’, a documentary about the causes of the 2010 Cheonan warship sinking] attempt to support pro-North Korea forces, no forgiveness for producers or funders,” “no forgiveness for National Theater Company of Korea showing ‘Frog’ [a satirical play about Park Chung-hee and Park Geun-hye],” and “must root out those loyal or friendly to North Korea, respond with strong hostility.” Another entry from the following January - after only one school selected a conservative-leaning textbook published by Kyohak Publishing - recorded Kim as saying, “Thwarted by vicious KTU [Korea Teachers’ and Educational Workers’ Union] attack, result of weakening base of patriotic and wholesome forces, second and third Kyohak Publishing could happen without thorough preparations.”

“At every meeting held by Kim Ki-choon, there were always a lot of remarks about how the country had ‘skewed to the left,’” Park Joon-woo said.

Another notebooks belonging to former First Vice Minister of Culture Park Min-gwon was revealed during a hearing on Apr. 25. One entry read, “Secretary Kim So-young, wholesome content BH [Blue House] rumors X, caution about remarks, Ministry of Culture alone.” In court, Park testified, “There were rumors going around about how the blacklist was ordered by the Blue House, and then Blue House Secretary for Education and Culture Kim So-young ordered [us] to say it was something the Ministry of Culture had done on its own.”

While it has not yet been adopted as evidence for trial, Kim Young-han’s work notebooks refers to orders from Kim Ki-choon to “respond militantly to leftist maneuvering.”

By Hyun So-eun, staff reporter

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