Prosecutors: "Secretary Choi is a suspect" vs Choi Kang-wook: "No notification of status change"

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] Choi Kang-wook, Secretary for Public Office Discipline at the Blue House, who is implicated in the suspicion of falsifying an internship certificate for the son of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, denied media reports that the prosecution had registered him as a suspect on charges of obstruction of business, stating, "I have never received such notification."

According to the legal community on the 22nd, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Ko Hyung-gon) reportedly requested Choi to appear for prosecution summons in December last year and January this year. The notification reportedly specified his status as a suspect.

The prosecution is known to have requested Choi's appearance several times via text messages and other means since late November last year. However, Choi responded in early December that it was difficult to appear due to work and personal reasons, and reportedly did not respond separately even after postal delivery.

Choi immediately refuted these claims. In a message sent to reporters through the Blue House, Choi stated, "I have never been notified of being converted to a suspect," and added, "I have never received any notification of suspect status conversion nor any summons to appear as a suspect."

He further said, "If I have been converted to a suspect, please clarify the exact date of conversion," and added, "Please also explain why a summons to appear as a suspect was not sent after the conversion, and why it was not communicated by phone."

Choi intends to substitute the prosecution investigation with a written statement. In a written statement of about 50 pages, Choi stated that Cho's son interned twice at his law office and that the internship confirmation certificate was issued through proper procedures.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On December 31 last year, the prosecution indicted former Minister Cho without detention on 11 charges including bribery. The indictment submitted by the prosecution to the National Assembly stated that Cho's wife, Jung Kyung-shim, a professor at Dongyang University, asked Choi, who was a lawyer at the law firm Cheongmaek at the time in 2017, to write an internship activity confirmation letter.

Meanwhile, when media reports emerged that the prosecution was considering indicting Choi on the same day, he responded, "This is a typical fabricated investigation and a despicable media play by the prosecution."

Yoon Do-han, Chief of Public Communication at the Blue House, refuted these media reports during a briefing and conveyed Choi's position on his behalf.

Chief Yoon stated, "There was internship activity from January 2017 to February 2018, and confirmation letters were issued twice," adding, "The internship activity actually took place."

He added, "There are no clear regulations on how internship activities should be conducted, and the prosecution is claiming 'no activity took place' without even knowing whether the internship activities occurred."