Yoon Suk-yeol "When allegations against Cho Kuk poured out... I pondered while touching the presidential appointment letter ink"

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol entered the funeral hall to pay respects to Choi Young-seop, retired Navy Colonel and father of former Board of Audit and Inspection Chairman Choi Jae-hyung, at the Yonsei University Severance Hospital funeral hall in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 8th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Choyoung] Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol actively denied the claim that he requested a private meeting with President Moon Jae-in before the nomination of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, stating, "I cannot accept such incitement or fabrication."

Earlier, on the 1st, Kim Eui-gyeom, a member of the Open Democratic Party, appeared on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" and claimed, "Before the nomination of former Minister Cho Kuk, former Prosecutor General Yoon conducted an internal investigation related to a private equity fund and requested a private meeting two or three times, saying, 'Cho Kuk is a bad guy. The President should not appoint him. Please give me a chance to meet and explain directly.'

At that time, Representative Kim said, "When the private meeting requests were not accepted, after the search and seizure began, it turned into a kind of show of force, a use of power," adding, "Former Prosecutor General Yoon said, 'We just need to cut out Cho Kuk. Cutting out Cho Kuk is actually the way for the President.'"

In response, former Prosecutor General Yoon said, "Cho Kuk, as the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, provided a lot of support to me in various ways during the two years I served as the head of the Central District Prosecutors' Office. Why would I do such a thing out of resentment?" He added, "People in the ruling party want to make it seem like I had political intentions."

Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who was indicted on charges of school admission corruption involving his children, is appearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong on the 25th of last month.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

When asked whether the allegation that he conducted an internal investigation related to the private equity fund was false, he replied, "On August 9, 2019, Cho Kuk was nominated as Minister of Justice, and I was on vacation from August 13 to 17. Throughout that week, suspicions related to Cho Kuk poured out." He continued, "I'm not joking?I even checked with President Moon whether the ink on the (Prosecutor General) appointment certificate placed on the living room shelf had dried or not. The ink hadn't dried, so I wondered what on earth I should do."

He added, "The following Tuesday, allegations about Cho Kuk's daughter's first authorship on a thesis surfaced, and after work the next day, I called Kim Yoo-cheol, Director of Crime Information Planning, to organize media reports about Cho Kuk by type and see if there was any basis for them." He continued, "The next morning, a complaint was filed, and pressure for investigation from the opposition party and media intensified. On Thursday, the senior officials' meeting at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office was held, and the head of the Central District Prosecutors' Office and the third deputy also attended. We decided to gather only publicly available information to see if we could request a search warrant."

He also said, "At that time, the investigation team was confident about the forgery of Professor Jung Kyung-shim's award certificate, so the probability of indictment was high, but it was uncertain whether the charges against Cho Kuk would be recognized." He added, "In that situation, the claim that I said 'I will just cut out Cho Kuk' is a very malicious allegation."

However, he stated, "After Cho Kuk's appointment on September 9, 2019, I did ask a civil affairs official to convey to the President, 'I will take the blame from the President's core supporters by proceeding with the investigation related to Minister Cho according to principles without any excess,'" adding, "I thought the President would be very worried about alienation or attacks from his core supporters."

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