April 19, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] As bizarre as the President Park Geun-hye scandal seems, it would not have been possible if Cheong Wa Dae’s internal system had worked as designed, or if Woo Byung-woo had cared.

Yet, Park’s former senior secretary for civil affairs, who was until October in charge of monitoring corruption and irregularities in the civil service, including presidential staff and the president’s inner circle, is apparently without any regrets or remorse. 

“I did my job. I did my best,” Woo said during a nationally televised parliamentary hearing on Dec.22 denying accusations that he actively played a role in the scandal and neglected his duty to curtail corruption and irregularities. 

Woo Byung-woo, former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, arrives at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 22 for a parliamentary hearing. The Korea Herald/ Park Hae-mook

President Park was impeached on Dec. 9 over the scandal which revealed her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of Park’s late mentor and cult leader Choi Tae-min, had been meddling in state affairs.

Woo was neither intimidated nor lost his temper when confronted by feisty lawmakers, two of whom had even offered a $10,000 bounty on tips about his whereabouts earlier this month while he was hiding from the public.

“I have never met Choi Soon-sil,” he repeated several times to lawmakers.

The former state prosecutor has been sarcastically described by Korean media as the “emperor” for his strong grip on the nation’s most powerful organizations -- the prosecution and the National Intelligence Office -- as well as his arrogant attitude to antagonists.

In 2009, then a prosecutor, he interrogated the liberal President Roh Moo-hyun. Opposition politician Moon Jae-in, in his personal account of the probe which led to Roh’s suicide, recalled Woo as being stiff-necked and arrogant toward the former state head. Moon was present at the questioning session as Roh’s legal representative.

Before the Park Geun-hye presidential scandal erupted in October, he had been in the news for months already, himself suspected in a number of irregularities.

One of them concerns the sale of his family’s real estate in Seoul to Nexon, a local game developer, at a price far higher than the market value. It was suspected that the dubious transaction was in effect a kickback offered to Woo in return for his turning a blind eye to a shady stock deal between a high-ranking state prosecutor and the Nexon founder. Woo vetted the promotion process of the prosecutor, Jin Kyun-joon, at that time.

Despite accusations, Woo was not even investigated until the scandal involving Park’s friend Choi Soon-sil came to light.

He was questioned by prosecutors only in early November amid the public censure of the president and after two of her other former aides were arrested. The prosecution wrapped up its probe, without indicting Woo.

Fresh allegations have surfaced since November, including one that he obstructed a prosecutorial probe to determine the exact cause of the deadly sinking of the ferry Sewol in 2014, possibly for the president’s political benefit.

Now, special counsel Park Young-soo, having received the baton from the prosecution, is set to dig into the host of allegations against the 49-year-old former prosecutor-turned-presidential secretary who has so far remained largely unscathed.

By Lee Sun-young/The Korea Herald (milaya@heraldcorp.com)