Who`s telling the truth?

Byeon Yang-kyoon, a former presidential secretary for national policy who had an affair with art gallery con artist Shin Jeong-ah, often showed his disdain for former Seoul National University President Chung Un-chan. Shin’s façade of lying that she earned a doctorate from Yale University was exposed in 2007. Byeon even openly criticized Chung at one point, saying Shin told him that Chung expressed an interest in having an affair with her. These juicy tidbits are from Shin’s memoir “4001” released Monday.

So who is telling the truth, Shin or Chung? The memoir says Chung frequently asked Shin for advice on the operation of the university museum and pledged to appoint her as an art history professor. He also reportedly flattered her by calling the “young and aggressive” Shin the best person to run the museum. Soon after her fraud scandal erupted, Chung told prosecutors that the university never invited Shin as a professor or offered her the job of museum director. In her book, Shin wrote that when she heard Chung’s denial, "I laughed at his nonsense.”

Shin even goes so far as to suggest that Chung expressed a sexual affinity for her. “From the beginning, it seemed he wasn’t just seeing me for business,” she said. “Whenever he saw me, it was late at night around 10 p.m.” Shin added, “When we met at Palace Hotel, he openly told me that he liked me, and called me a woman whom he wanted to meet often and even love.” She also said, “Chung committed a surprise act that I can hardly describe verbally when I was sitting with him.” The former university president has flatly denied her allegations, saying, “They’re all lies and not worth responding to.”

Their phone records could provide a clue to who is telling the truth. Prosecutors checked records of phone calls between Shin and Chung, including data on his repeated calls not picked up by Shin. She said, “Prosecutors who were investigating my phone records showed signs of being embarrassed over the records. From then on, they never asked anything about Seoul National University and only tried to cover up things.” She added, “It was totally scary to see prosecutors talk only about Chung’s denial while avoiding mention of the phone records.” Prosecutors should know who is telling the truth.

Editorial Writer Song Pyeong-in (pisong@donga.com)