Police Summon Former Spokesperson Bu Seung-chan for Second Investigation Over 'Cheonggong Allegations'

Former Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Bu Seung-chan, who raised suspicions that fortune teller ‘Cheongong’ was involved in the relocation of the presidential residence in Yongsan, will undergo a second summons investigation.

Former Defense Ministry spokesperson Bu Seung-chan is appearing at the Cyber Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Jahamun-ro Annex in Jongno-gu on the morning of the 19th for questioning.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the police on the 27th, the Cyber Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency will summon former spokesperson Bu as a suspect at 10 a.m. on charges of defamation by publication and defamation by spreading false information under the Information and Communications Network Act.

During his first investigation on the 19th, Bu expressed regret to the presidential office that filed the complaint. He told reporters, “I only recorded it on April 1 of last year. I regret being here.” He added, “The Constitution guarantees freedom of publication, freedom of the press, and the public’s right to know. The content written in the book itself is a reasonable suspicion. It is deeply concerning that the presidential office is taking criminal action in South Korea.”

Through a book published in February and media interviews, Bu claimed that “Cheongong visited the Army Chief of Staff’s official residence and the Ministry of National Defense’s Seoul headquarters within the defense ministry grounds during the presidential residence selection process,” based on information he heard from Nam Young-shin, then Army Chief of Staff. In response, the presidential office called it a “baseless fake suspicion” and filed complaints with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against Bu and two media outlets that reported his claims.

The police, who launched an investigation, conducted a search and seizure at the Ministry of National Defense’s Operations Support Division in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the 15th of last month. At that time, the police secured visitor-related data. After analyzing 4 terabytes (TB) of CCTV footage from March of last year, the police recently announced that “there was no footage showing Cheongong.” Earlier, analysis of Cheongong’s mobile phone location records also showed no trace of him near the candidate sites for the presidential residence.

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