A special investigation team on Monday attacked families and offices surrounding President Parker and her believers’ corruption and influence scandals, including the park’s former right-hand man and current culture minister.
Kim Ki-choon, a former presidential clerk, was one of 10 places where the scandal-related attacks were led by independent lawyer Park Young-soo.
Kim, 77 years old, suspected of tolerance, and even protect the park’s long-term friend Cui Shun-shi of a variety of illegal activities. Choi is accused of committing rape, corruption and abuse of power with Park and her former aide.
He has repeatedly claimed that he has no knowledge of Cui, but recently admitted that he had some understanding of her.
The man, once known as the invisible hand behind the park administration, was suspected of exerting an undue influence on the Ministry of Culture as part of his efforts to protect Cui’s interests and complaints against the president.
Kim was recently banned from leaving the country, suspecting the then deputy culture minister, Jin Haibin, to have six senior ministry officials resigned in 2014.
Former Minister of Culture Yu Jinrong claimed that this is a prerequisite for the establishment of Peace Movement Foundation, a non-profit organization is believed to raise funds to Choi.
The humiliated presidential assistant is also involved in a suspicion of the so-called “blacklist” surrounding the cultural opposition to the government.
Local citizens’ groups earlier this month filed a complaint with Kim’s team against Kim, accusing him of directing the Ministry of Culture officials to create lists and banning them from participating in state-funded projects.
The current Minister of Culture Qiao Yun Sun’s home and office earlier in the day was raided, ministries believe that the department managed the list.
Kim Ki-young has also been accused of appointing a former vice-minister of culture, Kim Jong-il, as deputy director of the Organizing Committee of the PyongChang Winter Olympic Games in 2018.
On Monday, the Special Adviser team questioned the allegations by the team of special advisers and suspected that he had forced local companies to provide financial support to organizations associated with Cui and his family.
Investigators suspect that these donations may have an impact on Cui – he and the President, the largest donor is the Samsung Group.
Earlier Monday, former home minister Moon Hyung-pyo and Kim Chang-soo – senior secretary of the Health and Welfare Department at Tsinghua University – questioned their request for a national pension service to support the controversial merger of two Samsung groups by 2015.
“I think it’s fair to say that the moon is suspected of abusing his authority,” an independent lawyer team official said.
The merger between Samsung C & T and Cheil Industries is seen as crucial to Samsung’s vice chairman and successor apparent Lee Jong Yong to tighten control of the entire Samsung Group.
The Lee family effectively “owns” the group through a complex cross-ownership structure.
Former head of NPS asset management Hong Wan Yang, was also summoned to the special investigation team on Monday to question the role of his merger.
He denied receiving the order of the then Minister of the Moon to support the move but refused to answer any other questions.
In addition to Kim Ki-choon, another former park assistant, Woo Byung-woo, was also investigated for allegedly tolerating Cui’s mistake.
The prosecution’s Woo Task Force formally ended their work, dissolved on Monday and handed the investigation file to an independent team of lawyers.
In addition to the allegations of negligence and abuse of power – both related to the Choi scandal – Woo was accused of misappropriating all the funds of the family, claiming that his son was biased during compulsory military service by borrowing the names of hidden personal assets and receiving rebates through him The family’s property is sold in the shadows of Seoul.
While Woo’s Choi-related suspicions will be handled primarily by the Park Young-soo team, according to officials, the remaining investigation by the former president’s secretary will be conducted jointly by the Seoul Central District Attorney’s Office.
