Cho Kuk "I would appreciate it if the defendant's voice is also reported... At least mechanical balance should be maintained"

Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who was indicted on charges of ordering the cover-up of the inspection of Yoo Jae-soo, former Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Busan, is entering the courtroom to attend the trial held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 5th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who has been indicted on charges including family corruption and covering up an internal investigation, reiterated his demand that "the media must report fairly" ahead of his second trial.

On the 5th, Cho Kuk arrived at the Seoul Central District Court to attend his second hearing, presided over by the Criminal Division 21 (Chief Judge Kim Mi-ri).

Upon arriving at the court and meeting with reporters, he said, "Since the second half of last year, there have been many cases where the prosecution's one-sided claims or intelligence leaked by the prosecution have been reported without filtering. Now that the trial has begun, I would appreciate it if the defendant's side's voice is also fully reported."

He added, "Please at least maintain mechanical balance. I ask you."

Cho Kuk also spent about two minutes refuting the 'cover-up of internal investigation' charges against him.

He emphasized, "The Special Inspection Team under the Presidential Secretariat is neither the police nor the prosecution, so it does not have the authority to conduct forced investigations such as arrests or searches and seizures. Therefore, there is a fundamental difference between the misconduct allegations that the inspector can verify and the charges that investigative agencies can confirm."

He explained, "The inspection team can only conduct investigations with the consent of the subject, and regardless of the inspector's intentions, forced investigations against the subject's will are not permitted."

Cho Kuk also stated, "The initiation, progress, and conclusion of high-ranking public official inspections are under the authority of the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs. In the case of the Yoo Jae-soo incident, despite the efforts of the inspection team members, the subject's non-cooperation rendered the inspection practically impossible."

He did not respond to reporters' questions such as, "Do you think the guilty verdict for former Busan Deputy Mayor Yoo Jae-soo in the first trial has any impact on this trial?" and "What do you think about Representative Choi Kang-wook of the Open Democratic Party saying he did not issue one of the intern certificates?"

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