Prosecutors Refute Cho Kuk's Claim of 'Gap in Daughter's Friend's Investigation Time'... "Records Exist"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The prosecution has rebutted former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk's claim that "there is a 3.5-hour gap in the records during the prosecution investigation of his daughter Cho Min's high school classmate."

On the 30th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office stated regarding the investigation of Jang, a classmate of Cho Min at Han Young Foreign Language High School, "The 3.5 hours before the formal investigation are recorded in the investigation process confirmation document as a preliminary interview and lunch." They added, "The preliminary interview involved watching a 40-minute video twice to individually identify seminar attendees including Jang and to generate the footage to be included in the statement," and explained, "This content is also included in the written statement." Earlier, former Minister Cho claimed, "Jang arrived at 9:35 a.m. when the prosecution investigation began, but the investigation started after lunch at 1:05 p.m. There is no record of what happened during those 3.5 hours."

The prosecution also explained regarding Park, a friend of Cho Min who testified that she did not remember seeing Cho Min at the Seoul National University academic conference in May 2009. The prosecution said, "During the investigation, Park stated that the female student in the seminar video looked similar to Cho Min, and this statement is recorded in the written statement." This means Park's court testimony has not changed from her prosecution investigation statement. Previously, on the 23rd, Park appeared as a witness at former Minister Cho's continuation trial and answered "No" to the prosecution's question, "Did you see Cho Min on the day of the seminar?" However, during subsequent defense questioning, she responded that the female student in the seminar video appeared to be Cho Min.

Additionally, the prosecution added that in response to the court's request to "encourage witnesses to appear," they had contacted witnesses by phone to guide them to attend court. Former Minister Cho had previously raised suspicions of coercion regarding the prosecution's prior contact with witnesses before their court appearances.