Court denies arrests warrants for 2 police officers over document leak

A Seoul court on Friday denied arrest warrants for two police officers accused of leaking a presidential document alleging a former close aide to President Park Geun-hye meddled in state affairs behind the scenes.

Seoul Central District Court dismissed the prosecution's request for the warrants to detain the officers, only identified by their surnames Choi and Han, at Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for further questioning.

"There is not enough reason to detain (the two) at the present stage considering that their crimes have not yet been sufficiently ascertained," Judge Um Sang-pil said in his decision.

Jeong Yun-hoe, who served as an adviser for Park when she was a lawmaker, is alleged to have held regular meetings with several senior presidential officials and sought to collude with them to replace Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon, according to a presidential document leaked to the media. He has never held any official position in the current administration.

Dismissing the document dated Jan. 6 as groundless, Jeong last week filed a libel suit against the local daily Segye Times, which first reported the allegations.

The prosecution office probing the case suspects that the two officers copied the document, drawn up by Park Kwan-cheon, a senior police officer, and handed it over to media and a company employee.

Park, the 48-year-old police superintendent, had worked for the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae until early February, when he was transferred to a police station in northern Seoul.

The allegations over Jeong's behind-the-scenes intervention in state affairs have emerged as a nation-rocking political scandal, putting the Park administration in the hot seat as it enters its third year in power in late February. (Yonhap)