Beopseoryeon Files Criminal Complaint Against Kim Du-kwan and Yoo Si-min for Pressuring Choi Seong-hae to Testify Favorably for Jeong Gyeong-sim

Choi Seong-hae, former president of Dongyang University
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] A civic group has filed a complaint with the prosecution against Kim Du-kwan, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation. The complaint alleges that they pressured Choi Sung-hae, former president of Dongyang University, to provide favorable testimony regarding Professor Jeong Gyeong-sim of Dongyang University.

The Action Alliance for Restoring the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon) announced on the 29th that it filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office against Representative Kim and Chairman Yoo on charges of attempted coercion.

Beopse-ryeon stated, "It is a clear obstruction of justice and a very serious crime in a rule-of-law state that Representative Kim and Chairman Yoo, using their powerful status within the ruling party, directly called former President Choi and forced him to make false statements. When former President Choi refused, Representative Kim, Chairman Yoo, their fellow politicians, and the Ministry of Education indiscriminately raised suspicions, ultimately forcing former President Choi to leave the university. This is a despicable political retaliation that must be severely punished."

They added, "The demand by Representative Kim and Chairman Yoo that former President Choi 'say that he was generally authorized' constitutes an attempt to coerce him into doing something he was not obligated to do through threats, and thus they are being criminally charged with attempted coercion."

Earlier, on March 30, former President Choi, who appeared as a witness in Professor Jeong's trial, testified that he received coaxing phone calls from Representative Kim and Chairman Yoo last September regarding the certificate of commendation controversy.

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