Cheong Wa Dae discovers documents indicating Park Geun-hye lied about Sewol tragedy

Oct 13, 2017, 08:50 am

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Im Jong-suk, chief of staff at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, is briefing on the issue of the former Park Geun-hye administration that has manipulated documents to falsify the time of the first report to Park on the Sewol Ferry incident in a press briefing held at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Oct. 12./ Source: Yonhap News

By AsiaToday reporter Son Ji-eun

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday that it has discovered documents from the former Park Geun-hye administration that have been manipulated to falsity the time of the first report to Park on the Sewol Ferry incident. It has also found documents indicating that then chief of the National Security Council (NSC) have altered its manual on crisis management without any legal process.

"We decided to announce the matter after careful thought and discussion considering the seriousness and importance of the incident after hearing about it in the morning," said Im Jong-suk, chief of staff at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

"We found documents in a file cabinet at the NSC office on Sept. 27 showing that the basic guideline of the national crisis management has been illegally changed. We also found documents on Oct. 11 indicating that the report about Sewol Ferry sinking has been manipulated later," Im said.

"Previously, the Park Geun-hye administration announced that the first report of the Sewol incident was issued on Apr. 16, 2014 at 10 am and that the first order was taken at 10:15 am. This was posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website by then, and was also submitted to the impeachment trial of the Constitutional Court. However, according to the newly found documents, the NSC submitted the first report of the accident to then-President Park Geun-hye at 9:30 am," Im said.

Im said the document was revised six months later on Oct. 23, 2014, to say that the first report was made at 10 am. "They pushed back the time of the first report by half an hour. The reason appears to be an attempt to reduce the time between the first report and Park's first order," Im said.

Cheong Wa Dae also found circumstantial evidence that the former administration revised the NSC guideline without due process. "The NSC guideline, which was in effect at the time of the Sewol incident, named the NSC as the top control tower in dealing with any national disaster or accident. However, the manual was illegally changed by the end of July 2014 at an instruction from then NSC chief Kim Kwan-jin saying that the disaster area is in charge of Ministry of Security and Public Administration," Im said.

Im said that the revision came after then presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon testified before the National Assembly in June and July 2014 that Cheong Wa Dae or the NSC were not the control tower in dealing with national disasters but the Ministry of Security and Public Administration was, and that an organizational manipulation apparently took place.

"Cheong Wa Dae believes such an incident must never be repeated anymore. Believing that the incident represents the worst case of manipulation of power, the presidential office plans to request an investigation to clarify and correct the facts," Im said.

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