Choi Dae-jip: "Sudden Investigation into Park Won-soon's Son's 'Military Service Corruption' Defamation? Political Retaliation by Moon Administration"

Choi Dae-jip, President of the Korean Medical Association. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Choi Daejip, president of the Korea Medical Association (KMA), who was accused of defamation for raising 'military service corruption allegations' against the late Park Won-soon, former mayor of Seoul, recently claimed that the resumption of the prosecution's investigation is "political retaliation by the Moon Jae-in administration."

On the 9th, Choi posted on his Facebook that the first trial of the case will be held on the 10th, stating, "I was reported by a third party for defamation in November 2015 due to raising suspicions of military service corruption by Park Jushin. Since then, there was no prosecution investigation until the investigation resumed in May last year. It is said to be very unusual for the prosecution investigation to suddenly start and lead to indictment just months before the statute of limitations expires."

He continued, "I consider this case as 'political retaliation' for my continuous opposition to the Moon Jae-in administration's medical policies, especially for demanding a ban on entry from China in January 2020 (related to COVID-19) and criticizing the government regarding the great national sacrifices during the first major outbreak in Daegu and Gyeongbuk in March. In particular, considering the timing of the indictment, I believe it also has a retaliatory nature related to the KMA's August struggle and the September 4 medical agreement."

He emphasized, "I have no intention of yielding to the petty political retaliation by the Moon Jae-in administration and will firmly and resolutely confront it to clearly reveal the medical truth related to the military service corruption allegations against Park Jushin and resolve the issue."

Choi also stated, "This situation, where we are supposed to uphold the so-called 'honor' of the late mayor Park, is somewhat grotesque. Since the prosecution deliberately summoned the honor of the deceased, I want to say that as a criminal suspect, I have no intention of avoiding exercising my right to defense. I will call Park Jushin, who is currently missing, back to our Republic of Korea and definitely put him on a public physical examination stand," reiterating his stance.

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