Jeong Yu-ra breeder

The pet industry has grown sharply, with related jobs including aroma therapy and funeral guide services emerging. One of them is pet breeder, which is to raise dogs of royal breed in a good environment based on expert knowledge and then to breed and parcel them out. Jeong Yu-ra (former name is Jeong Yu-yeon), daughter of Choi Soon-sil, President Park Geun-hye's longtime confidante and behind the influence-peddling scandal, reportedly introduced herself as a breeder at her social media account.

Messages posted under the name Jeong Yu-yeon were present until April this year at a Facebook page where people share information on pets. "I live in Germany. I'm planning to move to Korea with 11 dogs. Breeders are not a well-accepted job yet in Korea and I'm a bit hesitant." While someone could have misrepresented herself as Jeong, Choi's neighbors in Germany have said that the mother and daughter were raising more than 10 dogs and cats there.

Jeong's posts are drawing attention because they suggest her visit to the Presidential Office of Korea. "The president herself is not taking good care of her dogs. When I went to Korea, those small pets were lying there in small spaces and I had to shed tears after returning home," she wrote. People reading the posts are saying that the alleged free pass into the presidential office of not only Choi but also of her daughter should be investigated.

With influence-peddling scandal growing on Choi, who used her four-decades-long relationship with the president to meddle in affairs of state, media reports are pouring out on Jeong. With Ewha Womans University mired in snowballing allegations the school offered preferential treatment to Jeong, her Facebook post "Blame your parents for your lack of qualifications" stirred more criticism. It was revealed that she got married and gave birth to a son, and that prosecutors are aiming their swords on Jeong. A hard to believe story also emerged that Choi even hired a gangster to separate the boyfriend of Jeong who ran away from home. Though we don't know how far the stories are true, there is one thing that is true, that the mother's distorted affection for the daughter, including twisting of conglomerates to benefit her daughter, ultimately became a poison to Jeong. Doing whatever children want is never a genuine way to care for them.

고미석기자 mskoh119@donga.com