03.01.2017
KBS News
Video at link
Jeong Yura after her arrest.
Anchor: It seems as if Jeong Yura has been arrested, in the first instance, for an illegal overstay, is that correct?
Correspondent: Yes, that seems to be the case. It’s been revealed that Ms Jeong did not get an extension to her German visa once it expired. Additionally, through the Schengen free movement agreement, it is would not have been illegal for Jeong to have stayed in Denmark. As we first informed you, Jeong’s detention seems to reflect in part the Korean domestic situation, with the Korean government having decided that she ought to be arrested [by the German authorities].
Anchor: So with everything we know so far taken into consideration, whereabouts do we think Ms Jeong’s child is right now?
Correspondent: It’s now known that Ms Jeong’s child is staying with its nanny, a woman in her 60s, but when our reporter broadcast from the house yesterday no sign of their presence could be seen. They’re probably staying in a city-centre hotel to avoid Korean reporters. The whereabouts of the two remaining male members [of Jeong’s family] are unknown.
Anchor: When reporters first saw Ms Jeong at the courthouse, how was her demeanour? How did she seem?
Correspondent: In photographs taken of Ms Jeong at that point, one can see that her lips were chapped and she appeared rather gaunt. However, when reporters asked her questions during the brief moment when they saw her she replied easily and without hesitation. So we can assume that she has had help to prepare answers in advance when meeting with crowds of reporters outside the courthouse.
Anchor: It’s been reported that Ms Jeong managed to make her way into exclusive horse-rising circles [within Germany], but has the truth of this claim been checked at all by the media?
Correspondent: Yes, it was last Saturday, and we reported that Jeong had barricaded herself into a nearby horse-riding course at the time. The manager of the horse-riding facility in question confessed the truth, that Ms Jeong has been hiding in their riding habitat for months, as was reported by the media.
Analysis: blanket coverage today across Korean news media of Jeong Yura’s arrest in Germany for immigration violations. Jeong’s decision to overstay her visa in Germany was probably the best of a bad series of options: return to Korea and face extended scrutiny of her and her mother Choi Sunshil’s links with President Bak Geunhye, attempt to the leave the country for another destination and risk the media finding out, or stay on in Germany illegally. She probably didn’t anticipate that the Korean government would ask the German authorities to arrest her as soon as her visa expired. The detailed and almost pedantic nature of the coverage – revealing that Jeong’s nanny is a woman in her 60s, for example – illustrates just how important this story remains within the Korean news cycle.