Woo Byung-woo, a former aide of ousted President Park Geun-hye, appeared at a local court Tuesday to fight against the prosecution’s request for his arrest warrant over charges tied to the scandal that led to Park’s removal from power and arrest.
Woo, who was a senior presidential secretary for civil affairs from 2015 to 2016, is suspected of abetting or condoning Park’s friend Choi Soon-sil’s meddling in state affairs, and exerting undue influence over the prosecution to help Choi.
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Woo Byung-woo, a former aide to ousted President Park Geun-hye, walks into the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul at 10:05 a.m., Tuesday, to attend a hearing on his arrest warrant. He is suspected of abetting or condoning the meddling of Park’s friend Choi Soon-sil in state affairs, and exerting undue influence over the prosecution to help Choi. A decision on his arrest will likely come near or past midnight. (Yonhap) |
Woo, a prosecutor-turned-presidential aide, turned up at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul at 10:05 a.m. to attend the hearing, which will likely continue for several hours. A decision on whether he will be arrested is expected to come near or past midnight.
In February, special counsel Park Young-soo, whose 70-day investigation ended on Feb. 28, sought to arrest Woo, but the court rejected his request for a writ. The court said the charges against Woo were “debatable” and were not sufficiently “clarified.”
Woo has maintained that he had not been aware of Choi and her alleged meddling in state affairs.
He faces a total of eight charges including abuse of authority for allegedly peddling influence in the government to sack officials uncooperative with irregularities committed by Park and Choi. He is also charged with negligence of duty.
The eight charges also include perjury, as the prosecution suspects Woo lied under oath at a parliamentary inquiry into the corruption scandal in December. Allegations of embezzlement and disruption of a probe into the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry are not included.
He has been separately investigated for alleged embezzlement involving his family members.
The prosecution said it had questioned about 50 people as witnesses as part of the probe into Woo. Among them were state prosecutors who took the lead in investigating the maritime police for the botched rescue operation during the Sewol disaster and Choo Myeong-ho, ex-chief of the nation’s spy agency.
Despite his apparent failure to perform his duty to stop corruption in the civil service, Woo has so far avoided being arrested and indicted. A number of ex-ministers, presidential aides and Samsung Group’s de facto chief Lee Jae-yong are standing trial in connection to the corruption scandal.
Choi’s manipulation of power behind the scenes as well as the Park administration’s failure to rescue some 300 lives during the Sewol ferry disaster are major reasons the parliament voted to impeach her on Dec. 9.
Park was arrested on March 31 and is being questioned in jail. She was forced out of office on March 10, which stripped her of presidential immunity to criminal investigation. She is suspected of extorting donations from local firms to help Choi’s business interests.
By Ock Hyun-ju (
laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)
