Woo becomes target of investigation

With just one week to go until the Feb. 28 deadline of its investigation, the independent counsel is pursuing Woo Byung-woo, President Park Geun-hye’s former aide who is said to have wielded influence over the nation’s most powerful agencies, including the prosecution and intelligence service.

Woo stood at a court hearing for his possible arrest Tuesday, accused of turning a blind eye to irregularities surrounding Park and her shadowy confidante Choi Soon-sil and abuse of power while serving as a senior presidential secretary for civil affairs from 2015 to 2016.
 

The hearing came after independent counsel Park Young-soo asked the court to issue an arrest writ against Woo on Sunday, following an intensive, 19-hour questioning session.

The court’s decision on whether or not to allow his detention was expected to come around midnight Tuesday or early Wednesday.

Woo repeated his earlier denial of any wrongdoings at the hearing.

“I never knew who Choi Soon-sil was (until the scandal broke),” the 50-year-old former prosecutor told reporters before entering court.

It was not the first time Woo has denied his involvement in the scandal that led the National Assembly to impeach Park last December.

During a nationally televised parliamentary hearing following the president‘s impeachment, Woo insisted he had been neither involved in the scandal nor neglected his duty as civil affairs secretary to monitor irregularities in the presidential office.

President Park and Choi are accused of collaborating to extort donations from major business groups to funnel to Choi-controlled entities, among other charges. The two are being tried separately, with Park at the Constitutional Court as part of the presidential impeachment process and Choi in a criminal court.

Choi is also accused of taking advantage of her four-decade relationship with Park to have her daughter illegally admitted to the elite Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

The special counsel team is investigating whether Woo peddled influence in the management of personnel of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Fair Trade Commission, and attempting to hinder a lawful inspection into the deadly sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014 out of fear it might churn up negative public views of the Park administration.

The investigators have been accelerating the probe to meet the team’s deadline set for Tuesday. So far, 20 suspects have been put behind bars, including Samsung heir apparent Lee Jae-yong.

Meanwhile, the team said Tuesday that it could take longer than initially expected to bring Chung Yoo-ra, Choi’s daughter, home for questioning.

Chung, 21, is currently under the custody of Danish authorities, which are expected to announce soon whether they will extradite her to South Korea.

“Whether or not the Danish court decides to send Chung, the process could take additional months if Chung files a petition against the court decision,” Lee Kyu-chul, a spokesperson representing the special prosecutor’s team, told reporters at a press briefing.

By Bak Se-hwan (sh@heraldcorp.com)