First lady’s questioning outside prosecution office was not a special favor: justice minister

Justice Minister Park Sung-jae said Wednesday that the questioning of first lady Kim Keon Hee outside the prosecution office was not a special favor and took place in accordance with relevant protocols. Park made the remark as criticism has arisen after it was revealed the prosecutors had questioned Kim over a series of allegations, including her accepting a Dior bag from a pastor, at a presidential security facility, instead of the prosecution office compound. The closed-door questioning of Kim has sparked backlash from critics and the opposition party that she was given special treatment. "It was conducted in accordance with relevant regulations and I do not think it was a special favor," Park said in a National Assembly session in response to a lawmaker's question about Kim's questioning. The investigation of the first lady at a third location took place in line with investigative guidelines that allow for investigations to take place outside the official premises if the circumstances are "significant ly difficult" to proceed with the questioning at the prosecution office compound, Park said. "I believe there were security concerns," Park said. Park also claimed that he had not given any specific instructions about the scheduling of the questioning and that he was briefed on it afterwards. The covert questioning of Kim has again brought to the surface the disharmony between the prosecution team handling Kim's case and the top prosecutors' office. Prosecutor General Lee One-seok has expressed frustrations that he had been in the dark about Kim's questioning. It turned out that Lee Chang-soo, chief of the Seoul prosecution office, belatedly reported to Lee One-seok about Kim's questioning. When asked about the chief prosecutor's public apology that the principles of law allowing no privileges had not been upheld with regard to the questioning of first lady, Park said, "I don't know what he meant by the principles being violated." Kim was questioned for about 12 hours at a government office outside of t he prosecution office. It consisted of two sessions: the first on alleged stock price manipulation involving Deutsch Motors Inc., a BMW dealer, and the second on the luxury bag allegations. Source: Yonhap News Agency