Former President Choi Seong-hae: "On the Same Day, I Received Calls from Cho Kuk, Jung Kyung-shim, Yoo Si-min, and Kim Du-kwan"

Phone Call on September 4, the Day After the Prosecution's Search and Seizure of Dongyang University Research Lab

On the afternoon of September 8 last year, Choi Sung-hae, president of Dongyang University in Yeongju, Gyeongbuk, is stating his position regarding the controversy over the award certificate of the daughter of Cho Kuk, the nominee for Minister of Justice.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Seokjin Choi and Seongpil Jo] Choi Seonghae, former president of Dongyang University, who appeared as a witness in the criminal trial of Jeong Gyeongshim, a professor at Dongyang University and wife of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, testified that he received coaxing phone calls from former Minister Cho, Professor Jeong, Rhooisimin, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, and Kim Doo-kwan, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 25-2 (Presiding Judges Lim Jeongyeop, Kwon Seongsu, Kim Seonhee) began witness examination of former President Choi at 10 a.m. on the 30th in the trial of Professor Jeong on charges including violation of the Capital Markets Act. In the afternoon, cross-examination by Professor Jeong’s defense attorneys is underway.

During the prosecution’s examination that morning, former President Choi, who took the witness stand, responded to the prosecution’s question about the truthfulness of Cho’s statement in the suspect interrogation record regarding the circumstances of receiving the certificate of commendation by saying, “I did not even know that a certificate of commendation was awarded.”

When asked, “Did you first learn of the existence of a certificate of commendation issued in the name of Cho Min through media reports?” he said, “I first learned through media reports.”

He also answered “No” to the question, “Is there any fact that you received an oral report about the issuance of the certificate of commendation for Cho Min?”

Later, former President Choi testified that on the morning of September 4 last year, the day after the prosecution’s search and seizure of Dongyang University’s research lab, he was asked by former Minister Cho to distribute a press release stating that the issuance of the certificate of commendation had been delegated.

According to former President Choi, he avoided giving a direct answer to former Minister Cho’s repeated requests by saying, “I cannot decide alone and need to review the regulations with the faculty members in charge.”

When asked by the prosecutor what he thought when he received the call from former Minister Cho, he replied, “I felt uncomfortable, and I was intimidated because I thought that if he really became Minister of Justice, he would make even bigger demands.”

Former President Choi also answered that Professor Jeong called several times, and after talking on the phone, sent a text message requesting that the press release be issued in the morning.

He further testified that on the same day, Chairman Rhooisimin and Representative Kim also called and asked him to comply with Professor Jeong’s request.

Earlier, former Minister Cho, Chairman Rhooisimin, and Representative Kim acknowledged the fact of their phone calls with former President Choi but stated that the calls were for fact-checking purposes and not requests to admit that the authority to issue the certificate of commendation had been delegated. Therefore, attention is focused on which testimony the court will find more credible.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.