Hanbyun: "'Choo Son Allegation' False Explanation Planned" ... Former Defense Minister Reported for 'Abuse of Power'

Jeong Gyeong-du, former Minister of National Defense.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] A conservative lawyers' group has filed a complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office against former Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo and officials from the Ministry of National Defense Personnel Planning Office on charges including abuse of authority and falsification of official documents related to allegations of 'special leave' granted to Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's son, Seo Mo.

The "Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea (Hanbyun)" issued a statement on the 5th, claiming, "Former Minister Jeong, while in office, was aware of a request made during the selection process for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics involving Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's son Seo Mo, yet orchestrated a false explanation."

They further explained, "Former Minister Jeong had an unidentified person from the Ministry of National Defense Personnel Planning Office create a document titled 'Regarding the Justice Minister's Son's Leave,' concealing the key content that 'there was a request' and prepared two response plans regarding the allegations about Minister Choo's son." According to Hanbyun, the first plan was that since the whistleblower (support team leader) had already been discharged, it was difficult to sufficiently verify facts within the military, and the second plan was to select candidates by lottery among applicants.

Hanbyun also claimed that in the same document, the key issues were summarized in a Q&A format, and in response to the question, "Isn't the number of leave days for Minister Choo's son excessively higher than other soldiers?" a false "model answer" was presented, stating, "Excluding sick leave, compared to the average leave days of KATUSA in 2018, it was at an appropriate level and there was no special treatment." Internally, the military had actually identified that the total leave days for Minister Choo's son were 58 days, which was more than the KATUSA average (35 days) and the Army average (54 days). Kim Tae-hoon, chairman of Hanbyun, said, "The creation of such false response documents by former Minister Jeong disrupted the national legal order and caused young people fulfilling their military duties to feel a sense of loss."

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