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Cheong Wa Dae admits difficulties over opinion rigging probe

Cheong Wa Dae admits difficulties over opinion rigging probe

Posted August. 10, 2018 07:49,   

Updated August. 10, 2018 07:49

한국어

South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae is under tension as the special prosecutors’ team led by Heo Ik-beom on "Druking" scandal is reaching its peak. This is because special prosecutors summoned South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo for a second time as part of an investigation into an opinion rigging scandal and investigations of presidential secretaries Song In-bae and Baek Won-woo, who are currently working in Cheong Wa Dae, are near at hand.

“There has not been any notice of summons to investigate presidential secretaries Song and Baek from the special prosecutors’ team,” Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday. “They will not avoid and receive investigations upon the request by the special prosecutors’ team.” This implies that the two secretaries are already preparing for imminent summons. Secretary Song received 2 million won of lecture fees from influential blogger Kim Dong-won and introduced Kim to the governor. Baek met a lawyer surnamed Do, whom Kim Dong-won recommended as consulate general in the Japanese city of Osaka.

Cheong Wa Dae’s atmosphere has changed when the special prosecutors’ team identified a USB memory card owned by Kim Dong-won that the police had failed to find. The special prosecutors’ team found out through this memory card that he met the governor numerous times, shared various documents and opinions. “It is just the opinion of Kim and there is no conclusive evidence,” said a Cheong Wa Dae insider. “But is true that the situation is becoming more difficult.”


Sang-Jun Han alwaysj@donga.com