Presidential secretary denies link to prosecutor embroiled in scandal

A senior presidential secretary denied on Monday local news reports that said arrested senior prosecutor Jin Kyung-joon had pulled strings for him, allegedly leading to local gaming company Nexon buying his family’s real estate.

Woo Byung-woo, a presidential secretary for civil affairs, flatly denied in a statement Jin’s involvement in his personal real estate dealings, saying that his wife sold the property legally through a real estate agency.

Local news reports raised speculation on Monday that Jin had helped Woo’s wife to sell the property in southern Seoul to Nexon.

Jin, who is allegedly close to Woo from their college years at Seoul National University, is now under arrest on suspicions of taking kickbacks from Nexon’s co-founder Kim Jung-ju and using the funds to rake in some 12 billion won ($10.6 million) in profits through stock transactions.

He was arrested Sunday -- the first time this has happened to an incumbent top prosecutor in Korea.

Later in the day, Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong apologized at a parliamentary meeting over Jin’s bribery scandal.

“We will accept all the blame and criticism to restore public trust in the prosecution. We will also tighten monitoring and screening system for prosecutors to prevent recurrence of such an event.”

Kim denied news reports that he would step down from his current post over the scandal.

Prosecutor general Kim Soo-nam also apologized during a meeting with high-ranking prosecutors, vowing a thorough investigation into the case and heavy punishment such as the deprivation of Jin’s title and illegally-amassed profits. 

During the meeting, the participants laid out plans to expand the monitoring of asset growth and the stock investment of prosecutors whose duties are linked to stock information. The prosecution will also toughen regulations for prosecutors to register as a lawyer upon conviction of bribery.

According to news reports, Woo’s wife had not been able to sell the real estate located 40 meters away from the Exit 1 of Gangnam Station for more than two years. 

She allegedly was able to finally sell it to Nexon at 130 billion won in 2011. The company sold it again a year and four months later, as it had withdrawn its plan to build new headquarters in Seoul. 

“There was no reason to ask Jin Kyung-joon to sell my wife’s property and I did not ask for it,” Woo said in the lengthy statement. “I have never met Kim Jung-ju or had a phone call with him.”

News reports have also quoted legal sources who suspected Woo of having turned a blind eye to Jin’s possession of Nexon stocks in return for the gaming company buying his wife’s real estate. 

Woo was in the position to verify the backgrounds of high-ranking officials when Jin was promoted to senior prosecutor in 2015. 

Woo slammed what he saw as groundless, false reports, saying that many real estate agencies had approached his wife out of interest in the property and that she had paid 1 billion won in commission fees to a realtor for striking a deal. 

The realtor, who led Woo’s real-estate dealing, also dismissed the allegations over Jin’s involvement in the transaction in a phone interview with a local media outlet. The realtor said that more than 400 businessmen had shown interest in the real estate but had not purchased it due to disagreements over price. 

Woo, a former senior prosecutor who passed the bar exam in 1987 at age 20, is best known for leading high-profile investigations including the 2001 financial scandal involving C&G Group chairman Lee Yong-ho and the 2009 bribery investigation involving former President Roh Moo-hyun.

By Ock Hyun-ju  (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)