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| Ko Young-tae |
By Lee Kyung-min
The Constitutional Court reviewing President Park Geun-hye's impeachment may hit a roadblock as key witnesses have remained out of contact in an apparent move to avoid taking the witness stand in the hearings.
Suspicions are even rising that some of the witnesses may feel their safety threatened from supporters of Park and her confidant Choi Soon-sil as they are expected to give testimony unfavorable to Park and Choi.
According to the court, Sunday, it failed to deliver subpoenas to Choi's two former associates, Ko Young-tae and Ryoo Sang-young, who the court planned to call in, Tuesday.
Ko and Ryoo are the former head and senior manager, respectively, of The Blue K, a paper company set up by Choi.
The court asked the police to find Ko and Ryoo, but they have yet to locate the two. Their cell phones are turned off.
It was rumored that Ko has been feeling threats to his safety from unknown people.
A local media outlet said Saturday that Ko left for Thailand, where his friend is staying, fearing for his life after he gave damaging testimony against Choi during National Assembly hearing in December.
The online media outlet cited a close friend of Ko who said that Ko's last words were "I cannot live like this. I am so afraid. Please save me." Ko then hung up the phone and has not been answering his phone since, it added.
But Rep. Sohn Hye-won of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea said that Ko is staying in Seoul.
"Ko wanted his privacy and didn't want to make public appearances concerning the scandal anymore," she said on her social networking account.
Ko and Ryoo were expected to testify about who owned the tablet PC, the key evidence that contained multiple state secrets and presidential speeches. Investigators believe the tablet belonged to Choi, who denies it.
Ryoo, who is believed to be loyal to Choi, is suspected of conspiring with Rep. Lee Man-hee of the ruling Saenuri Party to commit perjury during the Assembly hearing.
Ryoo, who is also loyal to the President, allegedly met with Lee before the hearing to coordinate his testimony by agreeing to say that Ko was the owner of the tablet, not Choi, and that the device was later stolen by local broadcaster JTBC.
Alongside the two, the court is likely to fail, again, to call in two former presidential secretaries — An Bong-geun and Lee Jae-man — who earlier dodged subpoenas in deliberate moves to avoid testifying on Jan. 5. The court has yet to locate them.
Meanwhile, Choi and former presidential secretary An Chong-bum said that they would appear for today's hearing. They had refused to attend the previous hearing last week.
