Overview
Choi-Soo-Sil-Gate, also referred to as the Korean Rasputin Scandal in the Western media, is a major South Korean political scandal surrounding the incumbent president Park Geun Hye’s relationship with Choi Soon-Shil, a longtime friend of Park and the daughter of a shamanistic cult leader, who has been accused of multiple corruption charges and abuse of her influence as an unofficial special advisor to the president, including embezzlement, tax evasion and cronyism. Upon the public disclosure of Choi’s special relationship with Park in late October 2016, the news of the scandal immediately prompted a massive wave of protests across the country calling for the resignation of President Park.
Background
Choi Soon-sil has known Park Geun Hye since they were children in the early 1970s when Choi Tae-Min, Choi Soon-sil’s father and founder of South Korean pseudo-Christian cult Yongsae-Gyo, became a close mentor of Park’s father and the-then Korean military dictator Park Chung-Hee after the assassination of the First Lady in August 1974 (shown below).
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According to a quote attributed to Choi, the shamanic leader had claimed that he was able to communicate with Park’s dead mother. In the following decades, Choi continued to remain a core member of Park’s inner circle and gain political influence, which culminated after Park was elected the president of South Korea in 2013 and the subsequent appointment of her then-husband as the president’s chief of staff.
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The Expose
The precise nature of the longtime friendship between Choi and President Park mostly remained under the radar until September 20th, 2016, when Korean news outlet Hankyoreh ran a profile article of Choi shortly after she was appointed the president of the Boards of Mir Foundation and K-Sports Foundation, two non-profit organizations that quickly rose to prominence with massive financial backings from the Federation of Korean Industries (KFI), a powerful corporate interest group.
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In the following weeks, many news outlets began raising questions about the nature of relationship between Choi and President Park, as allegations of wrongdoing against Choi came to public light, including abuse of her personal connections to blackmail public officials and embezzlement of public funds. By late October 2016, the news had been picked up by foreign news outlets, including the Associated Press, CNN, The Washington Post and The Guardian, many of which likened the controversy to a modern-day “Rasputinian” political scandal.
Notable Developments
Throughout mid-to-late October 2016, more testimonies from former staff members and aides of President Park’s administration accusing Choi of puppeteering and trying to influence the president’s decisions in domestic and international matters continued to emerge, coupled by a massive influx of online rumors about the mysterious shadow figure, which was largely fueled by the utter lack of information regarding her whereabouts.
Allegations
Some of the most damning accusations against Choi range from political puppeteering, embezzling more than $51 million (USD), coercing big businesses to donate money, money laundering, leveraging her influence to fill in key official positions and accessing classified and top secret documents without proper security clearance or authority, among others.
Official Statement
On October 25th, 2016, President Park Geun-hye publicly acknowledged her close ties with Choi. On October 28th, Park dismissed key members of her top office staff and Park’s opinion rating dropped to 5%, the lowest ever for any sitting South Korean president.
Interview With Choi
After months of hiding in Germany during the onset of the scandal, Choi spoke out in public for the first time in an exclusive interview with Naver News on October 27th, three days before she was called in for questioning by the federal prosecutors’ office.
Investigation
On November 20th, the South Korean prosecutors formally charged Choi on suspicion of interfering with state affairs and strong-arming companies into giving tens of millions of dollars to foundations and businesses under her control. Furthermore, the office revealed that it has reasons to suspect President Park Geun-hye had knowingly conspired in criminal activities, fueling the rumors of the opposition party’s motion towards impeachment.
Impact
Protests
In the wake of the scandal, hundreds of thousands of South Korean citizens took their reaction to the streets with mass demonstrations in downtown Seoul, with many protesters calling for President Park’s immidiate resignation. On November 12th, an estimated crowd of over one million citizens attended the protest in Seoul, which has been since widely described as the nation’s largest anti-government protest since June 26th, 1987 during the dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan.
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Search Interest
External References
