Woo Byung-woo should take witness stand or resign

Woo Byung-woo should take witness stand or resign. October. 19, 2016 07:36. by 허문명논설위원 angelhuh@donga.com.

On prosecutorial investigation into senior presidential secretary for civil affairs Woo Byung-woo at parliamentary inspection of government on Tuesday, Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong said, “The Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office is reporting (to the presidential office) after investigation activities, while asking people to trust the Justice Ministry’s integrity and dignity.” But the situation wherein the person who is being probed is being debriefed on progress of the investigation is not compatible with procedural justice. In Tuesday’s parliamentary inspection, Minister Kim said, “Prosecutors are not directly reporting to Woo,” but the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs can have access to details of key cases through prosecutors seconded to the presidential office. Will the public trust such investigation? If the minister is faithfully executing his duties and responsibilities, he should have suggested the president to have Woo to resign.

A special investigation team in the prosecution reportedly plans to finish investigation related to Woo by the end of this month, but some watchers say that the team will conclude that he is clear of suspicions -- his parents-in-law’s sale of land through a favorable transaction, his malfeasance and embezzlement through his family business, ownership of land in borrowed name by his family-in-law, and his son's serving as a police officer in lieu of compulsory military service. Prosecutors, who must investigate and clarify those suspicions have not even raided and seized his wife’s home, office and mobile phones to probe. We naturally come to suspect that prosecutors had no commitment to investigate properly and they already had a pre-set conclusion to suggest.

Since the inauguration of the Park Geun-hye administration, the special inspector system was put into place, but the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs is a position that inspects people’s life and public sentiment, verifies the eligibility of ranking government officials, and manages issues and problems surrounding the president’s family and relatives. Woo cannot be exempt from the responsibilities for failure in checking the eligibility of former senior prosecutor Jin Kyung-joon who allegedly took stock bribes from NXC CEO Kim Jung-ju, and failure to preemptively prevent suspicions surrounding Choi Soon-shil in connection with the establishment of the Mir and K-Sports foundations, which is sending political shockwaves across the nation. Prosecutors handed the case over the Mir and K-Sports foundations, for which more than 80 plaintiffs have filed suits, to Criminal Department 8 at the Seoul Central District Public Prosecutors’ office, a unit exclusively in charge of land transactions, rather than the Special Investigation Department, which illustrates the prosecution’s lack of commitment to thoroughly investigate. Critics say that the prosecution was wary of Woo and the Park administration.

The National Assembly Steering Committee plans to call in Woo as witness on Saturday and directly grill him over these suspicions, but the presidential office expressed objection by saying, “There is no precedent in which the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs has attended a parliamentary inspection session.” However, there were cases wherein senior presidential secretary for civil affairs attended a parliamentary session during the former Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations. During the Park Geun-hye administration, then presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon ordered former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs Kim Young-han to attend a parliamentary session, but when the latter rejected, he accepted the latter’s offer to resign. Woo’s denial to attend constitutes an act that disregards the National Assembly. Suspicions surrounding Woo and the Mir and K-Sports foundations are adding to huge burden on President Park. If Woo is innocent, he should either attend a parliamentary inspection session, or if he cannot afford to, he must resign.