The special investigative team probing the corruption scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye, her confidante Choi Soon-sil and former Cheong Wa Dae aides is said to be seeking an arrest warrant Sunday for a university professor suspected of favoritism on Choi’s daughter.

Ewha Womans University professor Ryu Chul-kyun, also a novelist under the name Yi In-hwa, is believed to have had given Choi’s daughter Chung Yoo-ra unfair academic advantages by having someone else take tests for her and fixing her grades. It had been revealed that a test paper under Chung’s name had been submitted while she was in Germany.

Ryu was taken into custody Saturday due to “concerns of him destroying evidence,” according to Lee Kyu-cheol, spokesman for independent counsel Park Young-soo’s investigative team.

Suspicion surrounding Chung is part of a nationwide influence-peddling, corruption and abuse of authority scandal that led to arrests of Choi and other key personnel and the impeachment of President Park. A major part of the so-called “Choi scandal” is the supposed blacklist of cultural figures believed to have been created under orders from the presidential office, and is related to Choi.

Kim Sang-yule, former senior presidential secretary for education and culture, has been grilled in relation to the scandal that former Cheong Wa Dae officials have testified was created to “actively respond against schemes by leftist artists.”

The independent counsel team is reportedly investigating suspicion that creation of the list was initiated by Choi, to weed out individuals that can potentially get in the way of her winning state-funded projects.

The homes and offices of incumbent Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun and former chief-of-staff Kim Ki-choon -- believed to have given direct orders to officials -- have already been raided, and former Vice Culture Minister Kim He-beom was subject to overnight questioning by the investigators.

Kim He-beom is suspected to have been ordered by the ex-chief-of-staff to pick out ministry officials opposing the blacklist.

While Minister Cho has repeatedly denied the existence or knowledge of the list, the independent counsel team has accused her of perjury on the matter and have officially requested the National Assembly to file charges against her.

Bribery charges against the president, Choi and their associates is another major faction of the independent counsel’s investigation.

The former Secretary Kim reportedly testified to have met the CEO from Choi’s paper company The Blue-K, under orders from the president last January. He is believed to have requested former Vice Culture Minister Kim Chong to “help” the company.

The trio met later in the month to discuss at a hotel in Seoul, after which ex-Culture Minister Kim entered Cheong Wa Dae.

Revealing the link between Choi-related companies, President Park’s orders to assist them, and donations made to these companies by local conglomerates is considered crucial in proving the bribery charges.

Lawmakers from the parliamentary inspection team said that former presidential secretary An Chong-bum had testified that the foundation of Mir and K-sports foundations -- believed to have been used to channel funds to Choi -- was under the president’s orders.

An -- already under arrest -- was to be summoned Sunday afternoon but did not show up, citing health issues. The investigators were expected to question whether President Park’s orders were behind the financial support granted to the Choi family by Samsung Group.

Samsung, who is also the largest benefactor of the aforementioned foundations, is suspected to have received favors in form of business affairs such as the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries in 2014.

Then-Welfare Minister Moon Hyong-pyo is suspected of pressuring the National Pension Service -- a shareholder of both companies -- to back the controversial merger. He was arrested Saturday on charges of abusing his official authority.

Moon was summoned against for questioning Sunday, as was Kim Chong and Ryu.

Choi’s niece Jang Si-ho was also questioned over the weekend in relation to Samsung’s donation to her sports organization. 


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)