Mystery Surrounding Kim Dae-up’s Appearance at Prosecution

Controversy is arising again as Rep. Cheon Yong-taek of Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) conveyed the position of Kim Dae-up, a former army non-commissioned officer, who made allegations of former presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang’s son having dodged military service, to voluntarily appear at the prosecution through Rep. Park Ju-seon of the MDP.

According to sources, an official with a civic group that helps Kim Dae-up around the 5th or 6th called Rep. Cheon to arrange a phone call between him and Kim Dae-up and on the phone, Mr. Kim revealed his willingness to appear at the prosecution on the 13th.

Then Rep. Cheon met Rep. Park at the National Assembly building and informed him of Kim Dae-up’s position, and Rep. Park delivered his position to Park Young-kwan, senior prosecutor at the Seoul District Prosecutor’s Office.

In a telephone interview with the Donga daily, Rep. Cheon said, "I persuaded him to go to the prosecution to end the scandal given public suspicions. He said he would go to prosecutors on the 13th. He asked me to convey his willingness to Rep. Park and in turn let him tip off the prosecution."

However, Rep. Cheon added that he had only a single contact with him last June with another member of the MDP’s special committee for investigation into draft dodging scandal.

Meanwhile, Rep. Park Ju-seon said, "I was at the prosecution before and I am close to senior prosecutor Park Young-kwan, so I conveyed what I heard from Rep. Cheon to him. But I didn’t ask for taking any proper step in favor of Mr. Kim." Senior prosecutor Park also acknowledged this.

Against this backdrop, a question is being raised whether Rep. Cheon has been acquainted with Kim Dae-up. It is difficult for Mr. Kim to call Rep. Cheon to talk about the schedule of his appearance at the prosecution.

With respect to Mr. Kim’s allegation of draft dodging, the GNP has insisted that Rep. Cheon was behind his far-fetched allegation. In this context, some people in and out of the prosecution note that Rep. Cheon cannot but be suspected, because Mr. Kim, who has been on the wanted list after his sudden disappearance during the investigation of the draft dodging scandal, made the call to Rep. Cheon.

There are even guesses that Rep. Cheon played the role in Kim Dae-up’s allegation of the draft dodging by Lee Hoi-chang’s son, disappearance, and his appearance at the prosecution.

Sang-Rok Lee Tae-Hoon Lee myzodan@donga.com jefflee@donga.com