Prosecutors Summon Choi Jae-kyung... Investigate 'Fake Transcript Allegations' in Daejang-dong Report

Prosecutors have filed an arrest warrant for the fifth cousin of Justice Minister Cho Kuk, a key figure in the 'private equity fund suspicion,' and there are expectations that Professor Jung Kyung-shim, the minister's wife, will soon be summoned. The photo was taken on the 16th at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The prosecution summoned former Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Choi Jae-kyung to investigate the facts related to the 'recording transcript' in reports concerning Daejang-dong.

According to Yonhap News and legal circles, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kang Baek-shin) called former Secretary Choi as a witness for questioning. It is known that the investigation aimed to examine the overall facts regarding the parts where former Secretary Choi appeared in reports related to Daejang-dong, focusing on allegations of defamation against President Yoon Seok-yeol.

The prosecution is investigating suspicions that an internet media outlet reported a 'Choi Jae-kyung recording transcript' supporting allegations of President Yoon Seok-yeol's interference in the Busan Savings Bank investigation just eight days before the 2022 presidential election. The prosecution believes that this media outlet falsely reported by disguising statements made by Choi, an aide to Kim Byung-wook of the Democratic Party, as statements made by former Secretary Choi.

The article included content where Lee, the cousin of Jo and brother-in-law of former Busan Savings Bank Chairman Park Yeon-ho, said, "Before Vice Chairman Kim was arrested, Jo Woo-hyung was Chairman Kim's errand boy. Honestly," to which former Secretary Choi reportedly responded, "Yoon Seok-yeol said that," echoing the statement. Former Secretary Choi was the head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Central Investigation Department, President Yoon's superior, during the Busan Savings Bank case investigation.

Former Secretary Choi stated to the media in October last year that he "does not know Lee at all."

Following this, the prosecution has continued investigating the circumstances and background of the recording transcript reports, including conducting a search and seizure of Song Pyung-soo, former spokesperson for the Democratic Party's presidential election countermeasures committee and vice chairman of the Democratic Party's legal committee, on suspicion of involvement in the recording transcript reports.