The special counsel team investigating a property scandal ensnaring the presidential family said Monday they will question first lady Kim Yoon-ok.
“We have reached a decision to question first lady Kim,” assistant special counsel Lee Chang-hoon said in a press briefing. “We’re now in the process of consulting with Cheong Wa Dae to finetune the method and timing of an interview.”
Options being discussed include a face-to-face inquiry at the team’s office in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul; the presidential residence or somewhere in between. A written interview, given the first lady’s status, is also being considered, he added.
However, a senior presidential official denied that the consultation is underway.
“The counsel team contacted us but it was a simple inquiry regarding their ‘visit’ to interview the first lady, not in any form a consultation as reported,” an official at Cheong Wa Dae said.
The probe team’s move comes as they dig further into a dubious land purchase by the first family and the Presidential Security Service in March 2011 where President Lee Myung-bak planned to build a home to live after retiring.
Suspicions stem from the fact that the security office shouldered a much larger share of the total land cost ― 4.28 billion won ($3.92 million) out of 5.4 billion won ― but earned ownership of just 46 percent of the plot. It planned to build security facilities there for the president.
Another point of controversy is that the president’s 34-year-old son, Si-hyung, was the purchaser on the side of the first family, borrowing the entire amount ― 1.12 billion won ― he paid from his uncle and a bank, using his mother’s real estate as collateral. The junior Lee in 2008 reported his assets to be only 36 million won.
Investigators questioned Si-hyung, the president’s only son, and the uncle, Lee Sang-eun, as well as other former presidential security office officials involved in the deal.
Kim will be asked about the 600 million won loan that Si-hyung took out from Nonghyup Bank with her property in Nonhyeon-dong.
“An interview today or tomorrow doesn’t look feasible, because the first couple are scheduled to travel overseas,” the assistance counsel said.
President Lee, accompanied by his wife, is slated to visit Indonesia and Thailand from Wednesday to Monday.
The interview is likely to take place as soon as Kim returns, because the special counsel has not many days left in its 30-day investigation period given by law.
It must conclude the probe by Nov. 14, or ask for the president’s approval to extend the deadline for 15 days.
President Lee, stung by the suspicions, scrapped his plan for the Naegok-dong house and decided to move into his existing home in Nonhyeon-dong after leaving office next February.
By Lee Sun-young(milaya@heraldcorp.com)
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