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szdaily -> Special Report -> 
Confidante of deposed South Korea leader jailed for 18 years
    2020-06-12  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

SOUTH KOREA’S Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a previous court decision on Choi Soon-sil, a longtime friend of jailed former President Park Geun-hye who was called “non-taxable tax” at the time of the Park administration, in an influence-peddling and corruption case, Yonhap reported.

The highest court confirmed the previous ruling by the Seoul High Court in February that sentenced Choi, 64, to 18 years in prison on a string of corruption charges linked to a massive influence-peddling scandal that ultimately led to Park’s removal from office in early 2017.

The court also ordered her to pay a fine of 20 billion won (US$16.9 million) and forfeit 6.3 billion won.

It has been three years and seven months since the prosecution indicted Choi in November 2016.

Choi was accused of conspiring with Park and vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Lee Jae-yong for bribes for daughter Jung Yu-ra’s horseback riding support charges and forcing 50 major companies to appear in the Mir and K Sports Foundation funds.

The first trial sentenced Choi to 20 years in prison and a fine of 18 billion won, but in the second trial, the amount of bribes increased to 20 billion won.

In the Supreme Court, the sentence was reduced to 18 years in prison at the destruction repatriation court held in February.

The scandal erupted in October 2016 after cable channel journalists of JTBC pulled out of the garbage bin of one of the hotels in Seoul a tablet computer, which stored 200 secret documents from 2012 to 2014, including 44 draft president’s speeches. The files contained major changes and had dates earlier than those in which these speeches afterwards were given by the head of state. As it turned out, the tablet belonged to a friend — Choi. She, the investigators suggested, had for a long time actually taken part in the government without any public office.

It was claimed that Park let Choi enjoy inappropriate influence over the presidency.

Choi was given access to confidential government documents, including first drafts of policy speeches. Alleged wrongdoings committed by Choi involve her interference with the appointments of ministers, the shutdown of the inter-Korean factory park in Kaesong, the privatization of two nonprofit foundations and pressures on a prestigious university to get her daughter granted special treatment. She also allegedly used her links to the presidency for financial gain, pressuring companies into donating tens of millions of dollars to nonprofit foundations she controls. Presidential aides were accused of allegedly helping or at least tolerating Choi’s alleged meddling in state affairs.

Choi, who held no official position in the government, is believed to have exerted regular influence over Park’s decision-making between December 2012 and March 2014. This included subjects ranging from Seoul’s policy towards North Korea to the appointment of presidential staff and government posts. According to Korean-language media reports, Choi offered counsel to Park on a wide array of issues, from what color clothes to wear to how she could contact her dead mother.

Choi was referred to as a “Rasputin-like” figure in numerous media reports on the scandal. Grigori Rasputin was the infamous mystical faith healer who has been controversially blamed for bringing down the last Tsar of Russia in the early 20th Century by cozying up to the royal family and wielding alleged mysterious, negative influence.

Choi is a daughter of Choi Tae-min, a religious figure who was a friend to Park’s father Park Chung-hee, a military strongman who ruled South Korean for 18 years until he was assassinated in 1979.

Prosecutors say over 50 companies including giants Samsung and Hyundai paid US$67 million into organizations controlled by Choi.

They paid the money out of fear of political reprisals such as tax hikes or punitive increases in red tape, investigators said.

Choi and Park became friends in the 1970s when Choi Tae-min, founder of an obscure sect called the Church of Eternal Life, emerged as a mentor to Park. At the time Park was serving as acting first lady after the 1974 assassination of her mother, Yuk Young-soo. Claiming himself to be a psychic and messenger of God, Choi Tae-min asserted he was receiving messages from the late first lady and that Park, too, could reach out to her mother. His alleged influence angered several key aides to Park’s father, the country’s then military strongman Park Chung-hee, who was assassinated by his spy chief in 1979.

The senior government official who later shot and killed Park’s dictator father is said to have claimed that he staged his attack in part because Park Chung-hee wouldn’t keep Choi’s father away from the young Park Geun-hye.

In the 2007 presidential campaign, when Park made her initial bid as the party’s presidential candidate, rumors were rife that the charismatic pastor had complete control over Park’s body and soul during her formative years and that his children accumulated enormous wealth as a result.

Elected in 2012, Park has long been criticized for an aloof manner and for relying on only a few longtime confidantes. Most South Koreans, however, assumed those confidantes were in the government. That she may have been outsourcing decisions to someone outside of government, and someone connected with a murky, lurid backstory, has incensed many.

Media reports said Choi used her connections to Park to pressure businesses to give money to two nonprofit organizations Choi controlled; Choi then allegedly used some of the organizations’ official funds for personal purposes. South Korean media speculated that the two foundations collected about 80 billion won in donations from business groups in just a few months.

Choi, who is currently serving the 18-year jail term on multiple counts, including abuse of power and obstruction of justice, claims that she has been wrongfully charged.

In her memoir “Who Am I,” published June 8, Choi claimed that she became the target of political retaliation, denying the allegations against her.

“I’m a victim of political retaliation and have been facing consequences that are tougher than that of the purging ... The truth will be revealed sooner or later,” she wrote in the preface of the book.

In the book, Choi denied the media reports about her role during the rule of the Park government. She said she was trying to help Park, dismissing the media for the description of her as the “powerful personal secretary off the chain of command.”

“I don’t know who created the term. It’s nonsensical and I am sick and tired of being called that,” her book reads.

She claimed she’s not guilty, criticizing the Moon Jae-in government for using “a double standard” on her case and former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, who was indicted on multiple counts, including bribery and abuse of power.

Choi said she regretted her “poor handling” of the allegations surrounding her, her daughter and Park.

“I had to hang in there but I couldn’t. I blame myself for this. My daughter was humiliated by being handcuffed in public. I feel regret because I didn’t say a word to the Korean diplomat based in Denmark who blackmailed me. I agonize myself and my heart is wrenching whenever I think of what happened to me at that time,” she wrote.

In her memoir, Choi said she helped Park when she was running in the 1998 National Assembly by-election in Daegu’s Dalseong district on the ticket of the then-opposition party. She said she encouraged her husband Jung Yoon-hoe to join her to help Park, saying it was what Park wanted them to do.

Choi said she traveled Seoul and Daegu back and forth to help the Park campaign but she tried to keep a low profile because people knew she is the daughter of the controversial pastor Choi Tae-min.

“President Park used to wake up at 5 a.m. every morning and was preparing her campaign of the day while listening to AFKN radio [now known as American Forces Network (AFN) radio]. She ate cereal with milk for breakfast,” Choi wrote.

“I watched her win the election on TV with my mom at home. We were so happy and clapped but couldn’t show up in her office because we knew our presence wouldn’t help her.”

On the cover of the book, Choi wrote she has experienced tribulations that she wouldn’t have faced at all if she hadn’t been close to Park and tried to right the wrong through her memoir.

(SD-Agencies)

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