Mother of ex-chief of prosecution’s son gets suspended term

A Seoul court on Thursday ordered a suspended prison term for the 56-year-old woman who allegedly had an out-of-wedlock son with former prosecutor general Chae Dong-wook.

The woman, surnamed Lim, was given a two-year jail term with probation of one year, for threatening her former housekeeper, who was aware of her extramarital relations with 57-year-old Chae.

According to the Seoul Central District Court, Lim threatened the housekeeper not to reveal the information and failed to repay her loan of 29 million won ($26,300). Lim was indicted for the charges in May 2014.

Lim was also charged with receiving 14 million won in kickbacks from an individual after she promised a legal settlement, citing her relations with the then prosecutor general.

The prosecution earlier asked the court to sentence Lim to a jail term of two years.

The investigators said that they have secured sufficient evidence confirming that a 13-year-old boy is Chae’s child born out of wedlock.

In its unveiling of a probe result last year, the prosecution also cleared some presidential secretaries of the allegations that they illicitly collected the former prosecutor general’s private records to pressure him to resign over the lovechild scandal. The investigators concluded that the staff carried out “legitimate” activities to inspect Chae.

The evidence that investigators cited to confirm his extramarital life included a family photo of Chae, the boy and his mother, and a series of the boy’s school documents in which he was described as his father.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)