Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk gets two years in prison

Social Affairs

Published: 03 Feb. 2023, 19:46 Updated: 05 Feb. 2023, 18:28

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk gets two years in prison

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, center, speaks to the press on Friday outside the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, after the court sentenced him to two years in prison. [YONHAP]

Cho Kuk, former justice minister and a close confidant to ex-President Moon Jae-in, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to forfeit 6 million won ($4,900) on Friday after a local court found him guilty of pulling strings for his children’s college admissions.

The verdict, handed down by the Seoul Central District Court, came nearly three years and two months since Cho was indicted by prosecutors in December 2019.

While Cho was found guilty on almost every charge regarding his children, he was acquitted on most of the rest concerning allegations he illegally amassed wealth and abused his power while serving in the Blue House.

In scathing remarks, the court denounced Cho for “severely undermining social trust in the university entrance examination system.”

Cho’s daughter was ultimately accepted to Pusan National University’s medical school in Busan and graduated, but the university announced last year that it decided to revoke her admission.

Cho’s son was accepted to Yonsei University Graduate School.

Yonsei University on Friday said it would wait for a Supreme Court ruling to decide the younger Cho’s fate.

While the former justice minister has denied any wrongdoing, the Seoul Central District Court on Friday ruled against him on most charges involving his children, saying that he obstructed the business of multiple universities by submitting fake certificates and even taking an online test on behalf of his son while he was attending George Washington University.

The court, however, did not immediately detain Cho, citing a lack of reason to believe he would try to destroy evidence or flee.

Cho, who served as former President Moon’s senior secretary for civil affairs, expressed his intention to appeal.

Cho’s wife Chung Kyung-sim, a former English professor at Dongyang University, was also sentenced to an additional year in prison on Friday after the court found her guilty of forging documents for the couple’s son.

Chung has been serving a four-year sentence since 2020 for her daughter’s admissions scandal and other corruption charges.

Cho was also found guilty of violating the Anti-Solicitation and Graft Act by receiving 6 million won from Roh Hwan-jung, a professor at Pusan National University’s medical school, under the pretext that it was a scholarship for his daughter.

Roh is now also director of the Busan Medical Center.

Prosecutors saw the cash as a kickback, but the court on Friday ruled against this, saying Cho’s job as presidential senior secretary for civil affairs at the time didn’t seem to have any relevance to Roh’s profession.

Roh, who was found guilty of violating the Anti-Solicitation and Graft Act, was sentenced to six months in prison with a one-year probation.

On allegations that Cho tried to cover up a Blue House probe into Busan’s former vice mayor for economic affairs, Yoo Jae-soo, the court ruled that Cho indeed abused his power as the president’s senior secretary to stop the probe.

But the court disagreed with prosecutors on the charge that Cho abused his power against the Financial Services Commission to force the agency not to penalize Yoo.

Baek Won-woo, the former Blue House civil affairs secretary who was indicted alongside Cho for covering up the probe against Yoo, received a 10-month sentence on Friday but also wasn’t immediately detained. Park Hyoung-chul, former anticorruption secretary, was acquitted.

On other charges regarding Cho’s wealth – that the former justice minister allegedly knew his wife owned stocks under borrowed names or that he fabricated his fund management report – Cho was found not guilty.

Cho, who used to teach law at Seoul National University, told reporters outside the court building on Friday that he wanted to express “deep appreciation” to the court for ruling him not guilty on several charges, but said he would “diligently” appeal for the ones he was found guilty.

Cho accused the press, prosecution and conservative bloc of raising false accusations against him, claiming he nor his wife were guilty of using a private equity fund to engage in corrupt activity.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]