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By Kim Bo-eun
A yet to be appointed independent counsel will look into the whereabouts of President Park Geun-hye on the day of the Sewol ferry disaster, officials from the ruling and opposition parties said Tuesday.
The plan to investigate allegations that Park was unaccounted for during the critical period comes after the ruling Saenuri Party and the two biggest opposition parties agreed to appoint an independent counsel to investigate a corruption scandal involving President Park and her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil.
It is to be seen whether the investigation into "Park's seven missing hours," which Cheong Wa Dae has failed to clarify and led to numerous suspicions, will uncover the truth.
Although the President's whereabouts for the seven hours on April 16, 2014 appears to be unrelated to the scandal, the counsel will be able to look into the matter because the bill for the appointment states he or she can investigate all issues related to the Choi scandal.
The bill grants the counsel power to investigate 14 issues. One of them is the suspicion that Cheong Wa Dae granted favors to the head of a cosmetic surgery clinic frequented by Choi and her daughter: the doctor was appointed as an outpatient doctor to Seoul National University Hospital and also joined the President on an overseas trip to promote medical tourism.
One of the latest suspicions over the President's seven-hour absence is that she was undergoing a cosmetic procedure by the doctor, although Cheong Wa Dae and the doctor denied the allegations.
The counsel's questioning is also expected to focus on the role Park played in getting "donations" from conglomerates to set up the Mir and K-Sports foundations, which Choi controlled.
In July last year, Park had a luncheon with 17 heads of companies, at which she requested their assistance in establishing the foundations. It was later found that Park had private meetings with the leaders of seven conglomerates following the luncheon, more explicitly seeking funds for the foundations.
Prosecutors suspect Park sought funds from the companies in return for favors such as exerting influence on prosecution investigations into their irregularities and freeing their jailed leaders. If the allegation is true, she will be subject to bribery charges.
More recently, it was found that Park had one-on-one meetings again in February with the chiefs of five conglomerates ― SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo, LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo and Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin. Park is believed to have sought additional funding for the foundations during the meetings.
The prosecution summoned Lotte Group's Shin for questioning Tuesday.
The foundations were set up under the pretext of globally promoting Korean sports and culture, but they are suspected of having been used to funnel funds to paper companies set up by Choi in Germany, so they could be used for personal purposes such as training her daughter Chung Yoo-ra, who is a dressage competitor.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Tuesday it will question a doctor at anti-aging clinic Chaum, who is suspected of having prescribed the President's medications to Choi and her older sister Soon-deuk.
According to the Gangnam Public Health Center, which conducted an inspection, the medical records of the Choi sisters had terms entered referring to Park such as "VIP" and "Cheong" 19 times from 2011 to 2014.
The Health Ministry plans to have the Gangnam Public Health Center file a complaint against the doctor surnamed Kim, who is alleged to have violated the Medical Law by falsely writing up medical records.
