25 October 2015
President Bak makes a statement regarding her relationship with Choi Sunshil.
President Bak Geunhye said that the resourceful Choi Sunshil, dubbed “super wizard” by the press, had revealed national security secrets and gotten hold of diplomatic documents relating to political stability, as reported by JTBC cable news. Choi had information regarding President Bak’s meeting with her predecessor, Ee Myeongbak, when the two held a “behind closed doors meeting” just after Bak’s election on the 28th of December, 2012.
According to JBTC, an official passed on that Choi “had been in secret contact with the President regarding the North Korean National Defence Commision” on three occasions. They had discussed possible scenarios regarding North Korea which might play out during Bak’s approaching presidency. “The President now has to clean up the mess caused by this situation,” the source continued. JBTC reported that files which were passed on to Choi were created by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Documents relating to the Transition Committee’s argument around whether [government] personnel should intervene in the President’s office were found on Choi’s computer. Information around the strengths and weaknesses of the President’s personal security detail and of different [political?] candidates were also recovered, alongside specifics of the Transition Committee’s public relations and social media operations planning and guidelines around correspondence with the media.
Choi Eunshil shown during the JBTC broadcast. The text says “diplomatic documents in Choi Sunshil’s hands”.
President Bak’s inaugural address to the nation was singled out [as having been edited by Choi]. Choi is said to have consistently received the President’s speeches and addresses up to 40 days before they were released. She also scrutinised “every little detail” of various policy documents and items such as the President’s private holiday photos [which were to be released]. JTBC said there were more documents to come as it seeks to verify around 2,000 more files.
Analysis: major scandal here for Bak Geunhye which might yet mean the end of her presidency. With her approval ratings having hit rock-bottom, this was the last thing she needed: revelations that a slightly murky woman without any official portfolio or job title has been informally editing and commenting on Bak’s speeches and policies. Previous to this exposé, Choi has already been harshly criticised in the media for leveraging her links to Bak to obtain donations to charitable organisations she was involved with. There may be a change in presidency before too long.