The Democratic Party on the 21st accused Acting President Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, of bribery and extortion at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO).
The Democratic Party's legal committee (Park Kyun-taek, Park Hee-seung, Lee Seong-yoon, Lee Yong-woo, Lee Tae-hyung) stated at the government's Gwacheon building in front of the CIO, "We accuse Choi Sang-mok of bribery and extortion for his involvement in the Park Geun-hye-Choi Soon-sil Gate."
They noted, "Acting Choi Sang-mok has exercised veto power over 9 bills, including the Yoon Suk-yeol martial law special investigation law and the Kim Keon-hee special investigation law, over the past three months and has led the chaotic state administration into further turmoil by rejecting the appointment of Constitutional Court nominee Ma Eun-hyeok, elected by the National Assembly."
They added, "Given all these failures, Acting Choi is someone who actively participated in the Park Geun-hye-Choi Soon-sil Gate and has serious disqualifications as the head of the executive branch."
Democratic Party legal committee members claimed, "Choi Sang-mok was serving as the Blue House economic finance secretary when the Park Geun-hye-Choi Soon-sil Gate occurred in 2016 and was actively involved in crimes related to the establishment of the Mir Foundation, collaborating with Park Geun-hye and then Blue House chief Ahn Jong-beom to secure a total of 48.6 billion won in contributions from 16 groups."
They added, "At the time, Choi Sang-mok held several meetings with Blue House administrative officials and executives of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry to discuss the establishment of the Mir Foundation and even led the efforts to determine how much each group would contribute."
Members of the committee asserted, "Choi Sang-mok expressed anger to officials of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, asking, 'Are there still groups that have not made contribution contracts? Please provide me with that list,' urging for the collection of contributions."
Moreover, "Despite the clear evidence of Choi Sang-mok's criminal activities, prosecutors, including Yoon Suk-yeol, have arbitrarily exercised their prosecutorial discretion, resulting in Choi Sang-mok not being indicted. It is difficult to deny the allegations of preferential treatment during the investigation against Choi Sang-mok," they urged for an investigation by the CIO.