It’s the kind of story that is too unbelievable to trust. And if you’re skeptical, we understand — we wouldn’t have believed it either, unless it came straight from the mouth of South Korean President Park Guen-hye.
But it did, and for the people of South Korea this over-the-top conspiracy plot is very real. A secret, shadowy cult figure named Choi Soon-sil has secretly controlled the South Korean president for years, manipulating public policy behind the scenes for her own personal gain, reports say. The Choi family spent years grooming Park — and it has all been exposed in a shocking undercover investigation into the inner workings of one of the United States’ closest ally.
The scandal exploded last week when, after weeks of speculation, Park publicly acknowledged that Choi had edited some of her speeches and provided public relations help. Widespread media reports say that Choi, who has no official ties to the administration, may have been pulling government strings from the shadows and amass an illicit fortune.
Now Choi has returned home, and is confessed to the media that she “deserves death.”
“Please, forgive me,” Choi said through tears inside the Seoul prosecutor’s building, according to Yonhap news agency. Using a common expression of deep repentance, she added, “I committed a sin that deserves death.”
Choi, wearing a hat and a scarf, her hand pressed to her mouth, was nearly knocked off her feet several times as she tried to walk through a massive crowd of 300 journalists, as well as protesters and security, surrounding the building’s entrance. YTN TV station said that Choi, 60, lost her shoe as the throng converged on her, and a protester reportedly tried to enter the building with a bucket full of animal feces.
Many South Koreans believe there is much more to the story than Park has acknowledged, and the frenzy surrounding the scandal threatens her presidency.
Choi returned home Sunday from seclusion in Germany. It was unclear whether there would be any details revealed from her questioning, or how long she would be in the prosecutor’s office. The questioning of Choi’s former associates, including a purported former employee of a host bar, lasted two days.
Choi and Park reportedly became friends in the 1970s, when Choi’s late father, Choi Tae-min, a shadowy religious figure who was a Buddhist monk, cult leader and Christian pastor at different points of his life, emerged as Park’s mentor.
At the time, Park was serving as acting first lady after her mother was killed in 1974 by a man trying to assassinate her father, military strongman Park Chung-hee, who would be murdered by his own spy chief five years later.
Choi’s father gained Park’s trust by reportedly convincing her that he could communicate with her assassinated mother. Choi’s father denied this in a 1990 media interview.
The senior government official who later shot and killed Park’s dictator father, President Park Chung-hee, is said to have claimed that he staged his attack in part because Park Chung-hee wouldn’t keep Choi’s father away from the young Park Geun-hye.
Elected in 2012, Park has long been criticized for an aloof manner and for relying on only a few longtime confidantes. Most South Koreans, however, assumed those confidantes were in the government. That she may have been outsourcing decisions to someone outside of government, and someone connected with a murky, lurid backstory, has incensed many.
Tens of thousands took to the streets in protest over the weekend, and Park’s political opponents are calling for her immediate resignation.
Media reports said the younger Choi used her connections to Park to pressure businesses to give money to two nonprofit organizations Choi controlled; Choi then allegedly used some of the organizations’ official funds for personal purposes. South Korean media speculated that the two foundations collected about $70 million in donations from business groups in just a few months.
The president of Ewha Womans University has resigned amid protests over allegations that Choi used her connections to Park to get her daughter into the elite school and then secure special academic treatment.
Political and business corruption remains widespread in South Korea, which has had full democracy only since the late 1980s, when it shook off decades of military dictatorship. But the current scandal has struck a chord in a way that previous ones have not.
Part of it has to do with Park Geun-hye and her past, which is deeply entwined with South Korea’s recent, tumultuous history. The legacy of her father is still divisive. Supporters see him as saving South Korea from poverty and irrelevance by building up the economy from the rubble of the Korean War. Opponents say that the economic development came at the expense of massive human rights abuse, including the torture and death of dissidents.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
South Korea is one of our sincerest allies. South Korea is a determined and productive ally. In S. Vietnam, the U.S. fought for a government that was corrupt and un-determined. Despite leaving South Vietnam with state of the art military equipment, they threw down their rifles once we left. It was easier for them to flee than fight.The same with Iraq. I wish we had more allies like S. Korea.
Funny, I remember reading that the S. Viet Nam forces fought the N. Viet Nam forces off when they were attacked with more mechanized troops then the Germans had in WW II after we pulled out in something that I believevd was named ‘The Easter Offensive’, then when ‘WE’ failed to honor our treaty agreements with the south for resupply and air cover if they were attacked they were finally overrun
@ Inspector Tom: We left South Vietnam with the most modern military equipment of that long ago era. Once the U.S. wouldn’t fight for them, most of the ARVN retreated rather than fight. South Vietnam had a huge air force. However, flying that modern equipment out to sea to be rescued by the U.S. Navy was an easier option for too many South Vietnamese rather than fighting. True, the Church Amendment cut back on U.S. aid. However, no excuse for the corruption of the S. Vietnamese government and Army. The tax dollars spent to re-settle S. Vietnamese refuges in the U.S. should have been spent to help Vietnam veterans.
By the end of 1966, it became know, in the United States Air Force, that the U.S. strategy would be a war of attrition. Had we left then, the final outcome wouldn’t have been any different, with the exception of over a hundred thousand fewer casualties. Trump 2016.
@inspector tom….most of the South Vietnamese army were cowards and not worth the powder to blow them to hell. i know, i was there from 1965 -1968.
The same thing happens here in the U.S. Our shadowy cult figure that’s controlled every president since Regan and is the complete puppet-master of the communist, Islamist, Enemy-in-Chief, Obama, and the commie sociopath Hillary, is George Soros.
Any body criticizes the military of the Free South Vietnamese Republic state is totally wrong. The anti-war group in the US brought them down, we failed to honor our ally relationship, we cut supports, we withdrew while the South Vietnamese force was struggling to fight back against the North communist attempted to take over the South with its full force supported by China and Soviet Union. The South military had fought to the end of the war despite the great un-proportional battle. A lot of them killed themselves instead of surrender. To be honest, actually we betrayed our ally.
@ Love USA: Over 50,000 of our youth. Billions of dollars in aid and military equipment. How dare you call that betrayal. The minute that the U.S. Armed Forces stopped doing the fighting for them, they quit. South Vietnam was given the state of the art military equipment. They quickly folded and many came here to get on the American gravy train. If people like Robert McNamara and even Nixon didn’t limit U.S. military efforts, the North would have been defeated in less than a year. Read a factual book about the subject. The South Vietnam government and army was corrupt. In South Korea we have a strong and determined ally. In South Vietnam we had a corrupt ally who quit the fight. Big difference. The brave American soldiers, marines, airmen and coast Guardsmen who fought in Vietnam are the real heroes. If South Vietnam wasn’t such a corrupt place where it folded even with the best military equipment on earth, it would still exist. The corrupt South Vietnamese officials and military are the ones who betrayed.
The bureaucrats is the ones responsible for the Vietnam war fiasco and not the U.S. soldiers or military top brass. I served in the army for over 15 years and involved in many covert opps behind enemy lines and got wounded twice to protect my buddies while under heavy enemy fire power. I urge all veterans to vote for Reputation candidate Donald Trump next week to make America great again as a freedom loving country once again.
@JamesS… your are damn right. i am a retired Army Senior NCO and served in Viet Nam also. i already voted early for Trump and like you urge not only all veterans but everyone else to vote for Trump.
This needs to reach Soul Korea ,do to what’s happened here , it’s all lies , and you should stop this South Korean President, has done nothing but been set up by Hillary Clinton and I can prove it I will get in touch with my cousin Judy Oum that the polls and the persons who own them are in fact the problem but your S.Korean President has been in so much pain as you know her parents were murdered by the North Korean president very long ago but still she didn’t have control of anything its the ppl who want to take control of the country TTP is a good choice she didn’t choose to join , joining TTP would have put your country under siege as we in the USA may be doing to yourself so much in her life and me I promise plz don’t listen to your TV nor watch what’s going on the only scandal happening is a scandal she was lied to by Hillary with untrue facts, Hillary is your problem ban her from your country and the others who come to you to make chooses in the wall street market made her part of this story ,Obama care act is owned by a man who is evil that has flooded other countries with ISIS ties , she has protected your country plz don’t act like this-this is not who we are Respectfully Sung Dae Han
Obama has no say so in this , ther is 1 top add there and he is an American that is very connected to Soros
and another ,the denied Obama which is a good thing there is alot you should know i can answer questions