Protests, outrage grow over South Korean president’s secret cult connections

SHE’S the Rasputin-like shamanist cult leader accused of secretly pulling the strings of South Korea’s president. And it all started with a lost tablet.

Choi Soon-Sil, the woman at the heart of a lurid political scandal engulfing South Korea's president Park Geun-Hye, is escorted following her formal arrest. Picture: AFP

SHE’S the Rasputin-like shamanist cult figure accused of secretly pulling the strings of South Korea’s president. And it all started with a lost tablet, discovered by a TV network.

Tens of thousands of protesters again took the streets over the weekend as President Park Geun-Hye faced growing calls to resign over the snowballing scandal involving her close personal friend Choi Soon-Sil.

Choi has been arrested for fraud and also stands accused of meddling in state affairs, including government appointments and policy decisions, despite holding no official position.

Choi is the daughter of late religious leader Choi Tae-Min, who was married six times, had multiple pseudonyms and set up his own cult-like group known as the Church of Eternal Life.

Park has been forced to deny that she fell for a religious cult or allowed shamanist rituals to be performed in the presidential Blue House.

While questions around Park’s relationship with Choi and her late father had been circling for some time, the scandal kicked off late last month when cable TV channel JTBC found Choi’s tablet computer containing the president’s speeches — received ahead of time, with her edits in red — along with other state documents.

In a televised address Friday, Park agreed to be questioned by prosecutors, and sought to portray herself as an over-trusting friend who had let her guard down at a moment of weakness.

Her voice choking with emotion, Park said she had been living a “lonely life” as president and had turned to Choi for company and help.

“I feel a huge responsibility,” she said. “It is all my fault and mistake. Choi was the person who helped me personally taking care of my personal affairs when I faced the hardest and loneliest moments in my life, eventually causing me to overlook the shortcomings of people around me.”

Turning herself in to prosecutors last week, Choi was nearly knocked off her feet several times and lost a shoe as she tried to walk through a massive crowd of media, protesters and security at the government building.

“Please, forgive me. I’m sorry,” she said. “I committed a sin that deserves death.”

The South Korean media has portrayed Choi as a Rasputin-like figure who wielded an unhealthy influence over the president. Investigators are trying to determine the scope of access she had and whether she was given sensitive presidential documents.

The news has sparked outrage and mass demonstrations in the streets. Online, there has been an uptick in both rage and sexism, where Park and Choi have been called “crazy b**ch”, “chicken head”, a slur meant to attack their intelligence, and “stupid Gangnam ajumma”, a term often used to insult middle-aged women living in affluent southern Seoul.

But the political scandal has also sparked parodies, memes and even Halloween costumes as Koreans lampoon the bizarre situation.

In one example shared online, a student posted a photo of an elementary school test question asking what the text in a box was referring to. “This plans how and where to spend the national budget,” the text read.

The student’s answer: “Choi Soon-sil.”

Park’s approval ratings have hit a historic low of five per cent — a record for a sitting president — over the scandal.

“Park Geun-hye threw away her authority as [the person] ultimately responsible [for governing the state] to a common street woman of unknown roots,” Jae-myung Lee, the opposition mayor of Seongnam, told more than 10,000 people taking part in a recent anti-Park rally.

“Park has lost her authority as president and has shown that she doesn’t have the basic qualities to govern a country.”

Ahn Cheol-soo, a politician from a small South Korean opposition party and a potential presidential candidate, recently said of Park: “You no longer have the authority to destroy the constitution. You no longer have the authority to stomp on the pride of our people.”

In an editorial on Saturday, the Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper called for Park’s resignation. “If we had to pick one person who made the country into the shattered mess that it is now, it’s none other than President Park,” the paper said.

“The citizens no longer want Park to govern state affairs. She lost the political leadership to persuade and guide the ruling and opposition parties, the parliament and the people. Her moral authority as the head of state has fallen to the ground. Continuing this state for another year and three months will make everyone miserable.”

MORE ARRESTS AS CRISIS DEEPENS

Two other former presidential aides were also arrested over the weekend. Ahn Jong-beom, a former senior adviser to Park, was formally arrested early Sunday on charges of abuse of power and attempted coercion.

He is suspected of helping Choi collect millions of dollars in donations from conglomerates like Samsung to two dubious non-profit foundations which Choi set up and allegedly used for personal gain.

Prosecutors also arrested Jeong Ho-Seong, another former presidential aide, over allegations that he leaked classified information.

The 47-year-old Jeong, who was known as Park’s right hand man and has assisted her since 1998, is suspected of passing presidential speeches and official documents to Choi.

Park has been scrambling to restore trust in her administration amid the deepening crisis, reshuffling ministers and senior advisers to bring in figures from outside her ruling conservative Saenuri Party.

Despite the mass protests, Park is not expected to resign with just over a year of her single term in office left.

Whatever transpires, the very personal nature of the scandal has severely undermined Park’s ability to govern, turning her into the lamest of lame-duck leaders at a time of slowing economic growth, rising unemployment and elevated military tensions with North Korea.

Naturally, the Communist state has seized on the scandal, with its main newspaper recently attacking Park. “It’s deplorable that the South’s politics have become the joke of the world and its economy and people’s livelihoods are left in shreds,” the paper wrote.

In the past, North Korean propaganda has called Park a “dirty prostitute who licks her master’s groin”, an “ageing witch”, a “female dog” and an “American parrot”. Pyongyang has also repeatedly called for her death.