“Choi Do-sul, Lee Young-roh Possible to be Partners in Crime”

Minister of Justice Kang Kum-sil appeared before the National Assembly’s special budgeting committee on November 18, saying, “It is possible that Lee Young-roh (a senior schoolmate of President Roh during high school) and the former secretary Choi were partners in crime,” as to the suspicious corruption case of Choi Do-sul, the former secretary of general affairs for the president.

Minister Kang, through documentary answers, replied, “The prosecution prohibited him from leaving Korea in September,” on the question of “Did you ever take measures for making sure Mr. Lee does not leave Korea?”

Meanwhile, Minister Kang answered, “We investigated him as a reference in the middle of October since he often accompanies Son Kil-sung, president of SK Group,” on the question of “A person named Choi, who is the classmate of Son Kil-sung, introduced Son to Lee Young-roh. Did the prosecution ever investigate Mr. Choi?” asked by Lee Seong-heon from Grand National Party.

Minister Kang also mentioned, “We started to secretly investigate Son from the beginning of August and actually investigated him from the end of August several times,” and explained, “Regarding the money given to Choi Do-sul, Son stated that it was for the wife (the professor of a university) of Lee Young-roh to use to study, but he confessed that it was in fact for another use on October 2,” on the insistence of congressman Lee if the prosecution already knew the entire picture of the Choi Do-sul case in August.

Min-Hyuk Park mhpark@donga.com