Prosecutors on Thursday rejected a police request to impose an overseas travel ban on Kim Hak-ui, the former vice justice minister involved in an escalating sex-for-favors scandal, news reports said.
Bans against some 10 others implicated in the same scandal were also turned down, according to them.
Police have obtained statements from a woman allegedly hired by a contractor to perform sexual services for the official in 2009 at a country house in Wonju, Gangwon Province. After his name was disclosed by news media last week, he denied having received sexual services in exchange for peddling his influence.
By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)