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| Rep. Lee Yong-ju of the minor opposition People's Party holds photos of President Park Geun-hye published by the Hankook Ilbo, a sister paper of The Korea Times, during a National Assembly hearing Wednesday, to back up suspicions Park often received secret cosmetic treatments. / Yonhap |
Hearings find nothing new about Park''s Sewol absence allegations
By Kang Seung-woo
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Kim Young-jae |
This could back claims that Park wasted crucial hours in ordering rescue operations by possibly receiving treatment for wrinkles while the ferry Sewol was sinking on April 16, 2014. However, none of the doctors claimed they visited Park that day.
During the hearing on the corruption scandal involving Park and her confidant Choi, a bipartisan committee of lawmakers mainly focused on the President's whereabouts during the "missing seven hours" ― between the first reports of the incident and her first public appearance.
Park has been dogged by suspicions that she received injections for cosmetic purposes during the critical hours without issuing rescue orders, which critics believe brought about the government's botched initial response to the tragedy that claimed the lives of 304 people, most of them high school students on a trip to Jeju Island.
Opposition parties also included the missing seven hours in the National Assembly's impeachment motion of Park, which was passed by 234 votes to 56 last Friday.
Cheong Wa Dae has denied the speculation, saying that no outside hospital personnel visited the presidential office that day.
"I visited Cheong Wa Dae to treat the President's skin problems and other troubles on several occasions after receiving calls from there," said Kim Young-jae, a plastic surgeon who treated Choi for years, adding that he did not go through any security checks.
However, Kim, who holds no official title in the Park administration, said he did not give Park cosmetic treatments.
He is under suspicion of providing treatment to the President during the ferry sinking, but denied it, saying that he was golfing at the time.
The Assembly committee also heard that some medical treatments were done without due procedure at the presidential office.
"Without being accompanied by the President's doctor, I gave placenta injections to the President three times at Cheong Wa Dae before I was designated as a medical adviser," said Kim Sang-man who is known to have ties to Choi.
In addition, Kim admitted that he did not brief the relevant office at Cheong Wa Dae about the injections, adding that he was also free from security checks.
Kim Sang-man was earlier investigated by prosecutors for prescribing placenta injections for Park under Choi's name.
During the hearing, Rep. Kim Han-jung of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea said Park is suspected of having received injections during the ferry tragedy, adding that a photo taken on May 13, 2014 showed Park had bruises on her face.
Shin Bo-ra, who formerly served as an army nurse at the presidential office, claimed that she was not aware of the bruises. Shin also said she only delivered mouthwash and eye drops to the president on the day of the sinking.
Kim Young-jae said the bruises seem to have been made by shots, but added he was not responsible for them.
Kim Jang-soo, Seoul's ambassador to China who served as the National Security Office chief at the time, said he conveyed a written report about the ferry sinking to the President at her residence after finding she was not in her office.
"The report was delivered to Ahn Bong-geun, who was in charge of her residence," Kim said.
Ahn is one of Park's three key aides that also include Lee Jae-man and Jeong Ho-seong, who is now in jail.
The security chief also said that he spoke with the President on the phone seven times while the ferry was sinking.
"I phoned her and also received calls from her during the sinking," he said, adding that it was not proper for him to be out of office because he had to take charge of the control tower in such an urgent situation.
He also denied that Cheong Wa Dae ordered the Tongyeong rescue vessel to stay put rather than embarking on a rescue mission to the capsized ferry.
"There was no such an order. We proposed deploying naval ships to the scene to the President from the beginning and she cannot have refused it," he said.
The Assembly committee said it will conduct an on-site investigation into the presidential security office, Friday, although Cheong Wa Dae has rejected the plan, citing concerns about the possible leak of confidential information.
