Prosecution to question close aides to Moon

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Prosecution to question close aides to Moon

The prosecution is expected to soon summon a senior presidential secretary and former chief of staff of President Moon Jae-in for questioning over their alleged involvement in illegal surveillance of private citizens, informed sources said Wednesday.

According to the sources, the Seoul public prosecutors’ office investigating the case recently decided to summon all people implicated in the allegation.

They include former presidential chief of staff, Im Jong-seok, and Cho Kuk, the senior secretary to the president for civil affairs.

The two, along with several other presidential aides, including the chief inspector at the office of the secretary for civil affairs, have been accused of engaging in illegal surveillance of politicians and private citizens.

Such allegations were raised by a former inspector of the Blue House, Kim Tae-woo, who has also accused Im and Cho of having discarded his own intelligence report on a bribery scandal involving the country’s ambassador to Russia.

The former inspector claimed the senior presidential officials destroyed his report in an apparent bid to protect those close to the president or the administration.

The ambassador to Russia, Woo Yoon-keun, is considered a close confidante of President Moon.

The Blue House has dismissed the accusation, claiming the report on Woo only contained an old rumor that had already been reported by the media and was determined to be false.

The former inspector was ordered to return to his original post at the prosecution late last year.

He has since raised various accusations against the Blue House that include the illegal monitoring of private citizens.

The Blue House denies any illegal monitoring of private citizens, instead claiming that former inspector Kim himself engaged in such activities despite repeated warnings from his superiors, including Cho.

Yonhap
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