The prosecution is moving to summon Park Ji-man, the brother of President Park Geun-hye, as early as next week for its ongoing investigation into a scandal involving a leak of presidential documents.
There is speculation that Park Ji-man had been in a power struggle with Chung Yoon-hoi, once a key aide to President Park. The scandal, ignited by the Segye Ilbo newspaper, involves allegations that Chung was improperly exercising power in the administration.
Investigators said they recently revealed that the president’s brother met with the journalist of the Segye Ilbo who reported the allegation in May. The prosecution alleged that the journalist handed over a batch of documents to Park, the chairman of EG.
A spokesman for Park Ji-man was quoted as saying that he had nothing to do with the fetching of documents or the leak. He reportedly expressed willingness to testify at the Seoul Central District Court.
Chung is suspected of competing for President Park’s favors with Park Ji-man to the point of sending someone to tail the younger Park.
The prosecution is looking to ascertain how presidential office papers were leaked, and how much truth there is to the allegations.
Meanwhile, the Seoul Central District Court on Friday rejected the prosecution’s proposal to issue arrest warrants for two police officers accused of leaking a Cheong Wa Dae document alleging that a former close aide to the president meddled in state affairs behind the scenes.
The court said that “it is difficult to acknowledge the necessity of taking (the policemen) into custody at the present stage in consideration of the situation (under which the prosecution has yet to verify their crimes).”
The prosecution plans to apply again for warrants for the two policemen, who had worked for the presidential office.
Superintendent Park Gwan-cheon, one of the two figures, said he was only instructed to type what was given to him by his seniors at Cheong Wa Dae.
The document, drawn up at the presidential office for discipline in the civil service, said that Chung Yoon-hoi was working with a number of incumbent presidential aides including Lee Jae-man, Jung Ho-sung and Ahn Bong-geun, to influence state affairs.
While Chung and some other presidential aides implicated in the case have dismissed the reports as groundless, Cho claims that a large portion of the information is credible. Chung and the others have filed libel suits against the Segye Ilbo.
By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)
