Cheong Wa Dae denies involvement; key Lee aides summoned


The probe into the illegal surveillance scandal is revealing an increasingly wide web of corruption that could engulf the Lee Myung-bak administration.

New evidence emerged this week suggesting that an organization was established in July 2008 at the Prime Minister’s Office specifically to protect Lee from “political attacks.”

The document, titled “Command Structure of Public Official Ethics Division,” states that the president, or his chief of staff, will receive reports from the division.

The paper states that its purpose was to induce individuals appointed under the Roh Moo-hyun administration who are “resisting the MB policy direction” to resign from public office, referring to the president by his initials.

There were 39 such individuals at state-run companies and the audit departments of relevant organizations could be employed in achieving the goals, according to the document.

Parts concerning the reporting hierarchy further implicate top presidential officials in the scandal and their intentions to keep the activities secret.

The documents state that while the division will come under the prime minister, its activities will be overseen by a “secret line with single-minded loyalty to the VIP,” referring to the president as the VIP.

However, those close to Lee continue to deny all connections between the president and the activities of the PMO’s division.

“The illegal surveillance and Yim’s term in office do not overlap, but I know all about the reports he received while in office. And, the president said that he had no knowledge of the matter when (Yim) checked with him,” an aide to former presidential chief of staff Yim Tae-hee told Herald Media.

Yim served as the chief of staff from July 2010 until December 2012. He added that Yim also checked all records of the president’s one-on-one meetings with officials, and did not find records regarding the possibility that former Presidential Secretary for Employment and Labor Lee Young-ho met the president in private.

The former presidential secretary for employment and labor claims that he was the “body” behind Cheong Wa Dae’s involvement in the case.

Whether or not the president was aware of the developments, it appears that some of his closest allies were involved.

On Thursday, the prosecutors summoned Park Young-joon, former vice minister of knowledge economy and one of the most influential figures in the Lee administration, for questioning over suspicions that he had received reports from the PMO’s ethics division.

The prosecutors are said to be focusing on whether Park had a hand in ordering PMO officials to destroy related evidence in 2010.

Park, now under arrest on charges of taking bribes from the developer of the shopping mall Picity, was one of the most influential officials for much of Lee administration due to his ties with the “Yeongpo Line.”

Yeongpo Line is the term used to refer to a group of high-ranking officials who come from Yeongil of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province where Lee grew up.

The main opposition Democratic United Party has renewed its attack on the president following the revelation of the “command structure” documents.

“The documents compiled by the public official ethics division on Aug. 28, 2008, prove that President Lee is the body of the civilian surveillance case,” chairman of Democratic United Party’s emergency council Park Jie-won said Thursday.

“Cheong Wa Dae should not make more excuses and the president, who should take responsibility, should make a clear statement now that such documents have been revealed.”

Meanwhile, the prosecutors have uncovered evidence implicating the ethics division in placing opposition party lawmakers under surveillance.

On Monday, the prosecutors raided the home of former ethics division official Jin Kyung-rak’s sister, and confiscated an external hard drive containing about 400 related documents. According to the prosecutors, the documents include those suggesting that the division pressured executives of state-run companies and civil servants to resign.

In addition, the recovered documents are said to include evidence that the division placed opposition party lawmakers under surveillance, and orders to look into acquaintances of DUP’s Rep. Baek Won-woo and Rep. Lee Seok-hyun.

The scandal first came to light in 2010, when a businessman revealed that he was placed under surveillance by the division after he posted materials expressing negative views about President Lee Myung-bak.

In the ensuing investigations, it was revealed that officials of the division destroyed relevant evidence and led to several PMO officials removed from office and receiving prison terms.

The investigation, however, was reopened earlier this year when Jang Jin-su, a former PMO official convicted of destroying the evidence, disclosed that he was acting under orders from the presidential office.

Jang then went onto reveal that high-ranking officials within the presidential office had bribed him to stop him from disclosing further information.

According to Jang, he was given 50 million won ($43,000) that originated from the presidential secretariat for civil affairs.

The main opposition DUP has also been making announcements related to the case.

According to Rep. Park Young-sun of the DUP, former chief of the PMO’s ethics division, Lee In-kyu and other officials visited Cheong Wa Dae on 195 occasions between July 16, 2008 and June 23, 2010. The records revealed by Park show that Lee and other PMO officials met with a number of officials including the then chief of presidential secretariat for civic affairs Kwon Jae-jin, and Jang Seok-myeong, who is a senior official in the presidential secretariat for civil affairs.

While the presidential office denies any involvement, the scandal has had significant fallout for the Lee administration accelerating the process of the ruling party distancing itself for the president towards the end of the five-year term.

“Those responsible for breaking the law must be punished severely regardless of the level of their office,” Saenuri Party spokesman Lee Sang-il said.

The statement, issued Wednesday, is seen as a preemptive measure for protecting the party from possible damage resulting from the scandal.

Cheong Wa Dae’s ploys to stay out of the focus have also failed to function fully as intended.

In attempting to distance itself from the scandal, Cheong Wa Dae in April tried to shift the focus onto the previous administration, saying that 80 percent of the related data were gathered before President Lee Myung-bak took office.

The move, however, did not have the desired effect with much of the documents from the previous administration proving to have been legitimately compiled by the police.

In addition, the move led to Rep. Kim Young-hwan of the Democratic United Party accusing Cheong Wa Dae of attempting to influence the April 11 general elections.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)