President Park’s repeated lies, delay tactics

At the first hearing for President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment trial presided by Lee Jeong-mi, acting president of the Constitutional Court, on Wednesday, Park’s attorneys strongly criticized the top court for planning to reach a conclusion before her retirement on March 13. The attorneys claimed that the Constitutional Court’s emphasis on a speedy decision hurts the fairness of the impeachment trial. They also requested that 15 additional witnesses be selected, including Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, arguing that cross questioning must be conducted at the court to counter the credibility of the prosecution’s investigation reports that are used against Park.

The president also seems to be looking for an excuse for denying the special prosecution team’s investigation. She reportedly considers it discomforting to hold preliminary meetings for the planned face-to-face questioning of her, who allegedly conspired with her close aides to make a blacklist of a blacklist of actors, writers and artists to be excluded from government-controlled support programs. She is also refusing to accept the special prosecutors’ search of the presidential office and residence Cheong Wa Dae. The search is necessary before the face-to-face questioning of her. She also insists that the questioning take place at Cheong Wa Dae. She appears to have forgotten the fact that she is a criminal suspect.

It seems that Park’s attorneys are looking forward to March 13, and Park February 28. The Constitutional Court has only seven justices after March 13. If just two justices decide to reject the impeachment, the case will be dismissed. February 28 is the day when the special prosecutor’s initial investigation period expires. If the period is not extended, the special prosecutor has to stop unfinished probes. Park seems to be trying to delay her questioning by attaching a number of strings to her examination she once agreed to accept. If the president continues to cause delays in her impeachment trial and the ongoing investigation, the opposition parties will have no choice but to give more time to the special prosecutor. If the special prosecutor makes an official request, acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn will have to accept it.

It is shocking that the more the progress is made during the special investigation and Constitutional Court trial, the more of her lies are revealed. In the February 25 interview with an Internet television news site, Park denied that she did not give government posts to anyone recommended by her confidante Choi Soon-sil except for the cultural sector. She still claims that the scandal involving Park and Choi is a “huge mountain heaped up with lies,” although she is the one who has been found lying.