SEOUL, President Moon Jae-in on Friday accepted the resignation of his key Cheong Wa Dae aide facing a court trial over suspicions that he was behind an allegedly illegal travel ban on a former justice minister, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
Lee Gwang-cheol, secretary for civil affairs and justice, tendered his resignation the previous day after being indicted on power abuse charges.
He is accused of having pulled strings for the controversial measure to prevent former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-ui from leaving South Korea in March 2019. Some officials working then at the law-enforcement authorities are alleged to have colluded for the travel ban, which prosecutors regard as illicit, even through the falsification of official documents.
Lee will resign from his post after his successor is determined, according to a Cheong Wa Dae official.
“President Moon ordered for the resignation process to proceed after completing the transfer of duties following a swift appointment of the succeeding secretary,” the official said.
Moon earlier ordered a thorough probe into allegations that Kim had received “sexual favors” arranged by a local construction businessman in the mid-2000s. The scandal erupted several years later with the release of a video clip showing a man, alleged to be Kim, having a drinking party with women at a remote villa owned by the businessman.
Many supporters of Moon’s liberal administration suspect that the state prosecution service was negligent in looking into the case under the previous Park Geun-hye government. Kim served as a prosecutor for a long time before becoming vice justice minister in 2013. He quit his vice ministerial job just a week after he assumed the post amid the scandal, while he flatly denied his involvement.
Source: Yonhap News Agency