By Kim Jae-won
Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook suddenly offered to resign Friday afternoon.
Chae's announcement came almost immediately after the Justice Ministry declared its intentions to investigate the top prosecutor over reports that he has an 11-year-old illegitimate son.
| Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook walks out of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seoul, Friday, after offering to resign over an allegation that he has an 11-year-old son born to a mistress. Yonhap |
Earlier Chae issued a statement.
"I want to make it clear once again that the reports are groundless," Chae said in a statement. The vernacular conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper first reported that Chae had a lovechild on Sept. 6, which Chae denied.
The ministry's investigation into the incumbent prosecutor general is unprecedented and was announced after President Park Geun-hye returned from visiting Russia and Vietnam earlier this week.
"I hope I am the last person who resigns due to baseless allegations," Chae continued through Koo Bon-seon, chief spokesman of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. Chae was in office for five months after he was appointed in April.
However, he didn't say whether he would sue the daily for a correction and whether he would take a DNA test to disprove the reports.
Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said that the probe was aimed at preventing the prosecution from losing public trust in its essential task of ensuring law and order in society.
The ministry sent a mobile alert to beat reporters at 1:30 p.m., using the same procedure as for unscheduled announcements or briefings. Some reports say that Chae was not notified in advance of the ministry's probe plan.
The Chosun Ilbo claimed that Chae fathered an illegitimate son in 2002 with a bar owner he met in 1999 in Busan.
"The minister ordered an independent inspector to find out the truth about the case and report the results to him. We need to stabilize the prosecutors' office by uncovering the truth as soon as possible," the minister was quoted as saying.
Chae is said to be at odds with the current administration over how to deal with allegations that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) illegally intervened in last year's presidential election.
Chae tried to arrest ex-NIS chief Won Sei-hoon without success despite opposition from the ministry.
Won is suspected of mobilizing agents to prevent Rep. Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic Party, then, the party's presidential candidate, becoming elected by posting negative information about him online.
After President Park won the election, she denied having any help from the NIS during her campaign.
The Chosun Ilbo reported that Chae, who is married with one daughter, had a son out of wedlock who attended a private elementary school in Seoul before departing for the United States in late August.
Days after these allegations emerged, the boy's mother on Tuesday denied the reports and claimed that she used the influential official's name to protect her son from neighbors who might discriminate against him for being the child of a single mom.
The 54-year-old woman — only identified by her surname Lim — made the claim in a letter sent to the Chosun Ilbo and the liberal daily vernacular, Hankyoreh.
Lim said she came to know the chief prosecutor when he visited a bar she owned in the southern port city of Busan. Chae was serving as a low-level prosecutor in the same city at that time.
They have met several times since then, but she claims their relationship amounted to nothing more than a friendship between a bar owner and a regular customer.
Korean Language
채동욱 사퇴에 與 "유감"…野 "검찰 흔들기"
여야는 13일 채동욱 검찰총장이 혼외 아들 의혹을 부인하면서도 이날 전격 사의를 표명한데 대해 사뭇 다른 반응을 보였다.
새누리당은 검찰총장의 낙마에 대한 유감 표명과 함께 법원의 판단을 통한 진실규명에 무게를 둔 반면, 민주당 등 야권은 국가정보원 대선개입 의혹 사건 등과 관련지으며 '검찰 흔들기' 차원에서 접근했다.
새누리당 유일호 대변인은 브리핑에서 '채 총장이 최근 불거진 불미스러운 논쟁으로 그 직을 수행하지 못하고 결국 사퇴의 뜻을 밝힌 데 대해 안타깝고 유감스러운 마음'이라면서 '검찰 관계자들은 동요하지 말고 흔들림 없이 국민만 바라보며 직무에 임해줄 것을 당부한다'고 밝혔다.
유 대변인은 '사의표명에 대해 근거 없는 소문들이 퍼지는 상황을 감안하여 진실이 하루 빨리 밝혀져야 할 것'이라면서 '채 총장과 관련한 소송이 진행되고 있는 만큼 법원은 공정한 판단으로 조속히 의혹을 규명해주길 바란다'고 말했다.
이에 반해 민주당 정호준 원내대변인은 브리핑에서 '채 총장의 사퇴는 청와대와 국정원의 검찰 흔들기의 결과'라면서 '모처럼 검찰 독립이 뿌리내리려는 시점에 검찰총장을 흔들어 옷을 벗기는 것은 검찰을 권력의 시녀로 길들이려는 음모로 규정한다'고 밝혔다.
정 원내대변인은 '검찰이 한참 선거법 위반 혐의로 국정원을 조사하는 중에 이런 일이 생긴 데 주목한다'면서 '민주당은 검찰 흔들기로 국정원의 국기문란에 대한 진실규명을 방해하는 어떤 책동도 좌시하지 않을 것'이라고 강조했다.
민주당 소속 법사위원들은 '황교안 법무부 장관의 감찰 지시는 채 총장을 제거하려는 권력의 음모로 밖에 볼 수 없다'면서 '국정원의 대선개입 재판에 대한 간섭이자 공안정국의 시작이요, 검찰의 불행한 역사의 반복'이라고 비판했다.
이들은 채 총장 문제를 다루기 위한 16일 법사위 개최를 새누리당에 요구했다.
정의당 심상정 원내대표는 '원세훈 전 국정원장과 김용판 전 서울경찰청장에 대해 선거법 위반혐의로 기소하는 등 제 할 일을 다해오던 검찰에 대해 마뜩찮아 하던 청와대와 여권의 기류가 이런 식의 '검찰총장 찍어내기'로 이어진 것은 아닌지 심증이 더해가고 있다'고 말했다.
심 원내대표는 '청와대-국정원-조선일보로 이어지는 커넥션이 자신들의 말을 고분고분 듣지 않는 검찰총장을 손봐줬다는 세간의 의혹은 더욱 힘을 얻게 될 것이며 이것이 사실이라면 박근혜 정권에 피해가 가는 것을 막기 위한 사실상의 `친위 쿠데타'로 봐야 할 것'이라고 주장했다.