Woo Byung-woo, former President Park Geun-hye’s key aide, appeared at a Seoul court on Thursday to fight against the prosecution’s third attempt to arrest him this year.

The Seoul Central District Court held a hearing to decide whether to issue a warrant for the arrest of Woo over his alleged involvement in the National Intelligence Service’s illegal spying on civilians, while serving as Park’s senior secretary for civil affairs. 

The 51-year-old former prosecutor appeared at the court building at around 10:30 a.m. Thursday. When asked by reporters whether he still believes that his actions, now accused by prosecutors as illegal spying, were an extension of his job, Woo said “yes,” without elaborating.

He served in the position from 2015-2016, during which he is suspected to have exerted influence on the national intelligence agency to conduct surveillance on dissidents.

The court’s decision on whether to approve the warrant will be announced as early as late Thursday night or early Friday.

Prosecutors have already sought to arrest Woo twice, in February and April this year, but both attempts were rejected by the court due to insufficient grounds. They filed for an arrest writ on Monday, making a third attempt.

Woo is accused of ordering NIS to surveil civilians and influential public officials who were deemed critical of the conservative Park administration, including the presidential office’s internal inspector Lee Seok-su.

He is also suspected to have played a role in instructing the NIS and the Culture Ministry to create a blacklist of artists and celebrities considered critical of Park and her policies. 

In addition, he is accused of exerting power to delay a prosecutorial investigation to determine the cause of the deadly sinking of the ferry Sewol in 2014, in order for public sentiment to become favorable to the Park administration.

Woo is the only major figure who has avoided arrest among those implicated in the corruption scandal involving Park. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Former President Park was expelled from power in March over a sweeping influence-peddling and corruption scandal. She is currently in jail and is being tried for a host of 18 charges, including bribery and abuse of power.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)