Yoon Seok-yeol: "If the schedule only says 'Yungeom,' does that automatically mean entertainment?... Regret Malicious Misinformation"

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who declared his candidacy for the presidential election, is delivering a greeting at a meeting with officials from institutions and companies in the artificial intelligence field at the Artificial Intelligence Academy in Buk-gu, Gwangju, on the afternoon of the 17th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Soyoung] Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol strongly denied allegations that he received multiple golf entertainments and hospitality from former Sambutogeon Chairman Cho Nam-wook.

On the 19th, Yoon issued a statement saying, "I, Yoon Seok-yeol, have never received any meals or golf entertainments, nor have I been involved in any cases, so this is a malicious false report," directly refuting the claims.

Earlier that day, Hankyoreh newspaper obtained a past schedule from Chairman Cho’s secretariat and reported that in April 2011, Chairman Cho had a golf meeting with Yoon and Yoon’s mother-in-law, Choi. It also reported that in August of the same year, Chairman Cho had dinner with Yoon, and Yoon’s name appeared five times on the holiday gift list, raising such suspicions.

Yoon stated, "Hankyoreh reported definitively that I played golf on April 2, 2011, citing an unknown source 'schedule' that included 'Chairman Choi, Yoon Prosecutor' on that date," and explained, "However, on March 15, as the head of the Central Investigation Division 2 and lead prosecutor, I led an investigation team of about 200 people conducting simultaneous raids on five savings banks including Busan Savings Bank. At that time, I was working day and night without missing a single weekend day."

He continued, "There was no fact that I played golf at Gangnam 300 Country Club on that date," and argued, "Hankyoreh recklessly assumed that just because 'Prosecutor Yoon' or 'Yoon Prosecutor' was written without confirming the author or circumstances of the document, I must have received entertainment, but this is incorrect."

He further stated, "I have not met or spoken with former Chairman Cho Nam-wook for about the past 10 years." However, he added, "Between about 20 years ago and 10 years ago, there were a few occasions when I had meals or played golf with him and several acquaintances, but as always, we either paid our own expenses or took turns paying, and I never received any entertainment."

Yoon added, "It is very regrettable that Hankyoreh, after falsely reporting the 'villa entertainment' allegation based on a single interview report, is now maliciously trying to stigmatize me with false labels such as 'entertainment' and 'sponsor' by exaggerating a simple schedule from an unidentified source in a similar manner."

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