Prosecutors raid GNP lawmaker’s office as speaker’s aide emerges as suspect


The prosecution on Thursday raided the office of ruling Grand National Party lawmaker Choi Gu-sik to investigate whether he had been involved in the National Election Commission website hacking on Oct. 26 when by-elections for Seoul mayor and other offices took place.

The raid came a day after the prosecutors said they found evidence suggesting a former aide to National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae may have been involved in the cyber attack.

The finding creates doubts over the police conclusion in its probe in which one of Choi’s aides, surnamed Gong, confessed to being the sole perpetrator of the crime and that they found no leads involving others.

According to the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office, Park’s former secretary surnamed Kim sent 10 million won ($8,695) each to Gong and Kang, who runs an IT firm, before the Oct. 26 by-elections. Kang’s firm is suspected of conducting the actual distributed denial-of-service attack that paralyzed the NEC’s website section on ballot station information on voting day.

On Nov. 11, Kim sent another 90 million won to Kang. Out of the 90 million won, 80 million won was spent on online gambling by Cha, a man who is said to have connected Kim to Gong. Investigators suspect that the 10 million won handed to Kang may have been used to conduct the DDoS attack on the next day.

The investigators have also found that Gong met Kim on the eve of the election at Jongno, downtown Seoul, and that a low-ranking Cheong Wa Dae official joined their dinner later. The official surnamed Park is an Internet expert, according to local media.

The prosecution investigation drew criticism of the police, which concluded its investigation on Dec. 9, saying that Gong was the sole mastermind behind the cyber attack.

The police said that Gong plotted the attack because he wanted to help Na Kyung-won of the ruling party, who lost against independent candidate Park Won-soon in the race for Seoul mayor.

The attack was intended to prevent younger voters, who favor Park Won-soon, from going to voting locations to cast their ballots since the locations were different from the previous election.

The National Police Agency, which initiated the investigation, held a press briefing Wednesday afternoon and said that they had also discovered transactions involving not only Gong but also others, but did not announce the fact because they thought it was a normal procedure between two identifiable persons.

“It was made between two people in a completely understandable situation. They have lent and borrowed money, with promised interest rate and payback schedule,” NPA said.

The NPA also said it was aware of the Cheong Wa Dae official attending the dinner, but did not make it public out of concern for the rights of those investigated.

Opposition parties and others hit NPA for a slack investigation or a possible manipulation of results.

Rep. Park Young-sun of the largest opposition Democratic Party claimed Thursday that NPA head Cho Hyun-oh manipulated the report at the last minute before the announcement.

Rep. Baek Won-woo said in a radio show Thursday that many police officers protested the leadership’s decision to omit the details of the crime before the announcement. “The police leadership has been very keen not to upset the administration and may have decided to conceal anything related to politicians. Gong was a scapegoat,” he argued.

A political observer said the prosecution’s revelation will strike a blow to the police which are in a turf war against prosecutors over whether they should share the right to initiate investigations.

“Many people were sympathetic toward the police agency, which has lost its own investigation right under the recent Prime Minister’s Office’s decision. But the police seem to have blown it away by revealing their incompetence and political favoritism. Many people will turn their back against the police,” a commentator wrote on PolyNews.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)