Woo Byung-woo, former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, said in a recent parliamentary hearing that it was then-presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon who offered him a job at Cheong Wa Dae.

Woo was appointed as an ordinary secretary in the civil affairs office in May 2014.

In February 2015, he was promoted to senior presidential secretary for civil affairs.

Earlier this month, Kim told lawmakers it was not him, but President Park Geun-hye who initiated the appointment of Woo to the senior post. Kim said he just reviewed Woo’s curriculum vitae as the president notified him of her willingness to promote Woo.

Their remarks are summarized as this: Kim, the initial recommender as Woo clarified, did not engage in his appointment of the senior secretary post, as Kim said.

However, if the personnel decision was really recommended by Park, it would not be necessary for Kim to review Woo’s career resume again in 2015. Contrary to Woo’s remarks, Kim had not commented on “his 2014 recommendation of Woo” in an Assembly hearing.

Should their remarks be true, the president could have nominated Woo of her own accord. Before his Cheong Wa Dae entry, Woo was just a prosecutor-turned-lawyer.

Many citizens and lawmakers allege that Woo was able to work at the presidential office on the back of his low-key connections with Choi Soon-sil, a civilian confidante of the suspended president.

Following the allegation of golf meetings between Choi and Woo’s mother-in-law Kim Jang-ja, a whistleblower said in an interview with cable channel JTBC that Woo’s father-in-law, Lee Sang-dal, had been in close contact with Choi’s late father Choi Tae-min.

Further, Choi Tae-min reportedly attended the wedding ceremony of Woo as a guest, according to the testimony of the whistleblower who identified himself as being known by Woo’s in-laws.

His remarks came several days after Woo continued to argue at the parliamentary hearing that he had not known Choi Soon-sil during his time spent working at Cheong Wa Dae from May 2014 to October 2016.

Given his parents-in-law’s relations with the Choi family as some whistleblowers’ remarks and media reports showed, it is hard to trust his testimony at the National Assembly.

Woo’s entry to Cheong Wa Dae came one month after the Sewol ferry disaster on April 16, 2014, and he has been suspected of having meddled in the Gwangju district prosecutors’ office’s investigation into the incident in an irregular manner. He reportedly pressured the prosecution not to dig into allegations further and terminate its probe as soon as possible.

There is an allegation that his promotion to senior secretary in 2015 was due to his fast conclusion of the Sewol investigation via pressure.

The independent counsel, which is investigating the Park-Choi scandal, needs to investigate from the beginning taking into account the background of Woo’s Blue House entry and his dubious relations with Choi.

Of great interest among the public is whether Choi Soon-sil, who has been indicted for influence-peddling, also meddled in the Sewol case in collusion with Woo or Kim, who is also suspected of having secret connections with the longtime friend of Park.

Cheong Wa Dae failed to instruct the military and relevant agencies to conduct full-fledged rescue activities when the ferry was stranded.

Recently, “netizen investigator” Zaro raised the possibility that Sewol could have collided with a submarine, while the navy dismissed it. After publicizing the documentary “SewolX” via YouTube, he said there is a necessity for the nation to look into the cause of the sinking from the beginning again.

His suggestions of scientific evidence, alongside a professor from Ewha Womans University, give the urgent need to establish a second task force for the Sewol accident.

Nevertheless, the primary focus should be why the presidential office or Navy did not initiate active rescue activities.

It is nonsense if presidential aides say rescue missions were impossible as they did not know where Park was.