Did the President lie?

SEOUL, Nov. 4, 2016 (Xinhua) — People watch TV broadcasting South Korean President Park Geun-hye addressing the nation, at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 4, 2016. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Friday that she will accept an investigation into herself, if necessary, by prosecutors over a scandal surrounding Choi Soon-sil, the president’s longtime confidante suspected of intervening into state affairs. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin)(axy)

Park needs to tell whether she led fundraising

New revelations point toward President Park Geun-hye as leader of a fundraising effort for two foundations ― Mir and K-Sports ― with Choi Soon-sil, Park’s “evil” confidant, playing second fiddle as an accomplice.

Park had lunch with 17 heads of top conglomerates on July 24 and explained the purpose of the two nonprofit organizations. Then Cheong Wa Dae logs, given to prosecutors, show that over the following three days Park privately met Samsung Group Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo, SK’s interim leader Kim Chang-geun, LG Chairman Koo Bon-moo and Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin, among others. Their groups then made big donations.

These facts alone raise legitimate questions about whether they made contributions “out of good will” as Park claimed in her nationally televised Nov. 4 speech.

Also in doubt is the account so far established about the “Choi Soon-sil gate” that portrays the President as the victim of her manipulative confidant of 40 years, who used presidential powers at will to pocket billions of won, influence state affairs and gain her daughter illegal college admissions. In the Nov. 4 speech, Park tried to stick to it by saying, “I feel terribly sorry to see a particular individual collect personal gain and commit various illegal acts.”

However, Park’s account does not hold a candle to more recent revelations.

The target sums for the two foundations, initially set at 30 billion won each, were raised by 20 billion won to 50 billion won. Hankyoreh newspaper reported that President Park ordered the targets to be raised.

Smaller conglomerates including real estate specialist Booyoung, Kumho Asiana and Amore Pacific were asked to chip in, while Samsung threw in an additional 10 billion won for the total of over 20 billion won. The aggregate sum of donations for both foundations came to 77 billion won, which was short of the target 100 billion won.

There are other circumstances that cannot be explained without Park’s direct involvement.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism took only a day rather than the usual week or more to grant approval to the two foundations in question. Bureaucrats are trained to smell power, so it is hard to believe that they acted so swiftly and decisively on the order of a delegate like Choi. Also untenable is that An Chong-bum, Park’s imprisoned senior secretary, had strong-armed chaebol without direct orders from his boss. Initially, it was reported that the two foundations were intended for Park after retirement, being fashioned after Ilhae Foundation, which army general-turned President Chun Doo-hwan had planned. The plan was thwarted but the foundation still came into being as Sejong, a research organization.

On Nov. 4, Park passed the blame to Choi, describing the foundations as being pushed “at the suggestion that they would be helpful to the national economy and people’s livelihood.”

Irrespective of the prosecutors’ probe, Park should clarify the extent of her role in this scandal. If Park continues to obfuscate, it would mean obstruction of justice; if she actively coerced corporate donations, it would be an influence-peddling act; if she lied and was misleading about her role, it would be an even graver act of criminality. The current “Choi gate” could be renamed “Park gate.” (The Korea Times)