Ex-DUP spokeswoman files paternity suit against son of Full Gospel Church founder

Cha Young, 51, former spokeswoman of the then-Democratic United Party, has filed a paternity suit against Cho Hee-jun, 48, former chairman of the daily newspaper Kookmin Ilbo, claiming that she gave birth to his son.

Cho is the eldest son of David Cho Yong-gi, 77, founder and pastor emeritus of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul.

According to local news media on Thursday, Cha filed the suit with the Seoul Family Court against Cho on Wednesday. 

In the suit, Cha asked the court to confirm that Cho was the biological father of her son and to grant her parental authority and child custody.

She demanded Cho pay her 100 million won ($89,200) in compensation for what she has spent so far on rearing the child, plus 100 million won in in further compensation and 7 million won a month for future child care until the child comes of age.

“I first met Cho at a Cheong Wa Dae dinner in March 2001 and then dated him. I divorced my husband so I could live with him before delivering his son in August 2002 in Hawaii, the United States,” Yonhap News reported, quoting the suit.

“Even Pastor Cho acknowledged everything about the child in February this year, and asked for my forgiveness, promising to fulfill responsibility for bringing up the grandson born to his eldest son,” she said in the suit.

Noting that she divorced her husband at Cho’s persuasion and delivered his son in Hawaii, Cha said in the suit that Cho did not keep his promise to marry her after her divorce and had cut contact unilaterally since January 2004.

“I filed the suit because I cannot trust him any longer,” she said.

Cha, a former MBC newscaster, entered politics as a media consultant for then-Democratic Party presidential candidate Kim Dae-jung in 1992.

In April last year, she ran for a National Assembly seat representing a western Seoul district but lost the election.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)