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The wife of former senior presidential secretary for national policy Byeon Yang-kyoon had lunch with first lady Kwon Yang-suk at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday, the day after her husband resigned over his involvement in a scandal surrounding the disgraced curator Shin Jeong-ah, who is apparently his mistress. Byeon faces a summons from prosecutors. His wife, who was only identified as Park, drove herself to Cheong Wa Dae at 11 a.m. on Tuesday for what critics say was an awkwardly timed meeting. A Cheong Wa Dae spokesman said the first lady ¡°consoled¡± Park over lunch. No more details of the conversation were made public.
Meanwhile, it emerged Wednesday that Shin visited Cheong Wa Dae twice last year, in August and September, and met officials of civil service grades 3 to 5 there. The revelation is likely to feed suspicions that Cheong Wa dae staff supported and protected her when it was revealed that her Yale degrees were bogus.
According to the Cheong Wa Dae visitor log checked by an official Wednesday, Shin arrived at Cheong Wa Dae in August last year accompanied by a government official who had worked at the presidential office before. Shin and the government official were then joined by a presidential official who had previously worked in another government agency, and all three toured the compound and had tea together. According to the visitor log, Shin also visited Cheong Wa Dae the following month intending to meet Byeon, but left after seeing his assistant instead. The presidential office did not reveal the reason for Shin¡¯s visit or what she discussed with officials, nor did it reveal the identities of the government official who accompanied her and the presidential official she met there.
The Seoul Western Prosecutors¡¯ Office plans to summon Byeon on Thursday at the earliest as part of its investigation of Shin¡¯s bogus academic credentials and the consequent scandal. By questioning Han Gap-soo, the former board of directors of the Gwangju Biennale, prosecutors reportedly obtained evidence that Byeon peddled his influence to help Shin get selected as art director of the prestigious event. Prosecutors also say Byeon changed most paintings in his office while working as a minister of planning and budget. A prosecutor said the ex-presidential secretary could be charged with influence peddling and wasting state budgets if he is found to have given financial help to Shin.
Prosecutors are seeking to seize a computer Byeon used at his office at Cheong Wa Dae and have restored deleted e-mails Shin received from Byeon since September 2005 and are now analyzing them. They are also analyzing the phone records of Byeon, Han and Hong Ki-sam, the former president of Dongguk University, where Shin was an assistant professor. Prosecutors will ask for a warrant to search Byeon¡¯s house and temporary residence again after the court rejected an earlier request on Wednesday.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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