The investigation into the alleged attempt by presidential officials to cover up Prime Minister’s Office placing a civilian under surveillance is moving up the Cheong Wa Dae hierarchy.
According to reports, the prosecutors investigating the case are making arrangements to summon former presidential labor affairs aide Choi Jong-seok in the near future.
Choi has been accused by Jang Jin-su, a former PMO official convicted of destroying evidence regarding the matter, of issuing orders to destroy evidence and of attempting to bribe him to keep silent.
The prosecutors’ office has asked Choi to cooperate with the investigations. The investigators are also said to be talking with another person implicated in the scandal.
Choi, who works at the Korean Embassy in Washington, has said that he will cooperate with the prosecutors, and he appears likely to be summoned within the month.
In addition, the investigators are likely to summon former presidential secretary for employment and labor Lee Young-ho. Lee made a public announcement on Tuesday claiming that he was at the center of the scandal saying that he was the “body” behind the cover-up attempt.
While the prosecutors prepare to summon Choi, Jang’s lawyer has claimed that officials even higher up the ladder are likely to have had a hand in ordering evidence to be destroyed.
In a radio interview, Jang’s lawyer Lee Jae-hwa said that he suspects that Minister of Justice Kwon Jae-jin was involved.
Kwon was the presidential secretary for civil affairs at the time the presidential officials allegedly ordered Jang to destroy evidence.
Lee also claimed that matters involving heavyweights such as Kwon are likely to have been reported to the president.
However, Lee said that a recording of Jang Seok-myeong would prove such claims false. Jang Seok-myeong is a senior official in the presidential secretariat for civil affairs, who according to Jang Jin-su attempted to give him 50 million won ($44,500) to prevent that the latter Jang from revealing more information.
The PMO had secretly monitored a businessman after he wrote negative comments about President Lee Myung-bak in 2008.
The case was investigated in 2010 and closed with several PMO officials removed from office and receiving prison terms. However, the case was reopened after Jang disclosed that he acted on the orders of the presidential office.
According to Jang, the presidential office ordered him to destroy the hard drive of his computer and that the presidential office provided him with a mobile phone registered under a borrowed name to report on related matters.
By Choi He-suk (
cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)
