South Korea’s Presidency Rocked By Oddly Familiar “Influence-Peddling”, “Charitable Foundation” Scandal

While various prominent politicians in the US, who shall remain nameless, are seeminly made out of Teflon when it comes to policy-peddling scandals, South Korea is less lucky and, as the WSJ reports, South Korea’s president Park Geun-hye has accepted the resignation of her chief of staff and four other senior aides, following public outcry over the influence of a friend of Geun-hye’s in state affairs. The move comes after the president’s public approval ratings plunged to historic lows and thousands of street protesters called for her resignation Saturday after she said recently that her friend, Choi Soon-sil, had helped her prepare speeches early in her presidential term.
The two women have been friends for more than 40 years and became connected through Ms. Choi’s father, who created a religious cult and was close to Ms. Park’s father, former South Korean president Park Chung-hee. The cult connection in Ms. Choi’s family has increased public suspicions of her motives.
So wait, someone else writing the president’s speeches, and people riot over that? Americans, used to a far greater degree of drama in recent months would merely gloss over, as they would over the allegation by a South Korean broadcaster that Ms. Choi was also given access to confidential government documents, based on files it retrieved from a tablet computer that it says it recovered from an office she used. In a South Korean newspaper interview, Ms. Choi, who has no position in government, denied accessing material other than the speeches.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Oct 30, 2016.