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Chung Kyung-shim, professor at Dongyang University, enter the Seoul Central District Court for questioning on Oct. 23. (Kim Myoung-jin, staff photographer)

The Seoul Central District Court has issued an arrest warrant for Chung Kyung-shim, 57, professor at Dongyang University and wife of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk. The arrest comes 58 days after prosecutors’ investigation of Cho’s family entered full swing on Aug. 27 with a search and seizure operation. With Chung being the main suspect in prosecutors’ allegations surrounding the family, the prosecutors appear to have more or less established the legitimacy of their investigation by arresting her. Now that Chung is in custody, they appear poised to ramp up their investigation against Cho. 

Song Gyeong-ho, a warrant judge at Seoul Central District Court, issued Chung’s arrest warrant at around 12:18 am on Oct. 24. 

“A substantial portion of the criminal charges have prima facie evidence, the course of the investigation to date raises concerns about the destruction of evidence, and the reasonability of detention is recognized,” Song said. During a six-hour pre-detention questioning (warrant validity review) on Oct. 23, Chung’s legal team argued that the warrant should be dismissed on the grounds that the “allegations listed in the warrant are distorted and/or exaggerated and do not constitute a crime in juridical terms,” but the court rejected this argument. 

The response from prosecutors – who were confident that the charges against Chung justified a warrant, stating that the “violations of the Capital Markets Act, namely the use of undisclosed information and criminal gains, were not criminal acts that could be attributed to others” – was that Chung’s arrest was an obvious outcome. 

Having overcome the biggest hurdles in their investigation with the warrant’s issuance, prosecutors now appear poised to launch a full-scale investigation of Cho Kuk. Prosecutors suspect Cho of forging an internship verification form for the public interest and human rights law center at Seoul National University School of Law to ensure his daughter’s university admission. In their explanation of the college admission impropriety charges against Chung in Oct. 23, prosecutors said that “Mrs. Chung and her family exploited their social standing and connections to acquire false specifications, which they improperly used for [the daughter’s] university admission.” Observers have interpreted the term “family” as a reference to Cho. 

Cho is also alleged to have assisted with the destruction of evidence, including reportedly telling a family asset manager surnamed Kim “thank you for helping my wife” when they replaced a hard disk at the couple’s home. Prosecutors are expected to look further into whether Cho was aware of Chung’s private equity fund investments, which took place when he was the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs. Cho could face charges of violating the Public Service Ethics Act if he is found to have been aware of matters related to the private equity fund investment and remained silent. In his confirmation hearing, Cho insisted, “It was a blind fund, so no investment information was provided. I didn’t know.” 

With Chung’s arrest, claims by some politicians that the prosecutors’ investigation has been “excessive,” “targeted,” and “politicized” appear likely to lose some of their steam. While the administration and ruling party have been open with their displeasure over the investigation to date, prosecutors have remained confident in their ability to substantiate the charges. The issuance of an arrest warrant – seen by many as an “interim evaluation” of their investigation – also partially relieves prosecutors of the burden of producing concrete “results” to justify the investigation. 

On Oct. 21, prosecutors requested an arrest warrant against Chung on 11 charges including embezzlement in the performance of job duties, violation of the Capital Markets Act, and incitement to falsify evidence.

By Lim Jae-woo and Jang Ye-ji, staff reporters 

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