The day of Chung Kyung-Shim’s fate from ‘Only 15 Suspicions’, the main problem to be guilty

Professor Kyung-Shim Chung of Dongyang University is present at a hearing on decisions on violations of the law on capital markets and financial investment business held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, LA morning of November 5. [뉴스1]

The court’s first trial of Dongyang University Professor Chung Gyeong-shim, wife of former Justice Minister Cho Kook, comes out on the 23rd. Professor Jeong faces 15 charges. It has been a year and three months since the prosecution first charged Professor Chung in September last year with falsifying the Tong Yang University subpoena. Since former Minister Cho is tried as an accomplice of Professor Chung, today’s trial has no choice but to affect Cho.

On the afternoon of September 6, 2019, at a hearing on candidates for the Judicial Committee’s Justice Minister Cho Guk candidate held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Park Ji-won sees the summons from Dongyang University sent by her daughter to her mobile phone. [뉴시스]

The charges against Professor Jeong are largely divided into ▶ irregularities in the children’s entrance exam ▶ suspicion of private equity investment ▶ destruction of evidence. Among them, the charges for irregularities in the entrance exam have received the most attention from the public opinion, and if innocence is revealed, the prosecution can face criticism for not having been a reasonable process. On the other hand, it is also a very important part for Professor Jeong, as the child’s admission can be canceled if it is concluded that he has entered graduate school illegally.

The key question is whether Professor Jeong directly forged the quote on behalf of the president of Tong Yang University. The prosecution obtained a scanned copy of Tong Yang University Professor Jeong’s son’s list and a “ president’s stamp ” file from an internal computer file seized in the Tong Yang University lecture hall. The prosecution’s opinion is that Professor Jeong only cut off the seal portion of the son’s certificate normally issued and pasted it on the daughter’s fake quote.

Professor Jeong’s side has argued that it is impossible for him to perform difficult tasks like image correction, which is close to “getting started.” Furthermore, when the prosecution proved the falsification of the summons in court, they confronted her saying: “It shouldn’t take 30 minutes” and “it must be said that there was no subpoena record from the beginning.

It is also controversial whether Jeong’s daughter Jo Min actually did an internship. The prosecution believes that Mr. Cho expanded his career and used it to enter medical school despite the fact that he did not work as an intern or did not actually play an important role.

In this sense, the statements of witnesses in court have been mixed. Students who attended the Seoul National University Public Interest Law Center Seminar and received the same internship confirmation as Mr. Jo said, “I haven’t seen Jomin.” However, a lawyer who attended the seminar as the event coordinator stated that “I remember the girl in a school uniform saying ‘My father is my country.’

Regarding the Gifted Humanities program at Tongyang University, the Tongyang University professor, who said, “I saw Mr. Cho,” switched to the prosecution’s question, saying, “I didn’t see him, but I heard that a daughter came from Professor Jeong. ” Innocence can vary depending on which statement of the person is most credible to the judge.

Cho Bum-dong, fifth nephew of former Justice Minister Cho Kook. [연합뉴스]

In the private equity sector, Professor Chung’s main charge is that he signed a bogus consulting contract with a private equity manager, represented by Cho’s fifth nephew, Beom-dong Cho, on behalf of his younger brother, and in return , received 150 million won in money. It is said that it was stolen. In this regard, the court previously mentioned: “It is an important criterion in determining whether or not Professor Jeong is aware of the embezzlement of Mr. Cho’s hate money in advance. This is interpreted to mean that if Professor Jeong learns of Mr. Cho’s embezzlement and receives the money, he can be convicted.

Another important problem is whether it is an investment in the name of the borrower or a loan. The prosecution believes that Professor Jeong made an illegal investment by borrowing the name of his younger brother or a regular hair designer after Cho’s inauguration as Chief Min Jeong. On the other hand, Professor Jeong argued that “I only lent money because it was a special relationship.”

On the morning of September 3, 2019, the prosecution is carrying out a seizure at the Liberal Arts Department office of Dongyang University, Punggi-eup, Yeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do. [뉴스1]

Professor Chung’s side has insisted that the prosecution collect illegal evidence during the trial. The teaching assistant who sent the computer to the Tongyang University lecture hall is not the owner of the computer, so it is difficult to see it as evidence that it has been legally collected.

If the confiscated Tongyang University computer is recognized as evidence of illegal collection, all files related to the Tongyang University subpoena of the computer will lose evidence. It is a situation in which innocence can be found regardless of whether it is falsified or not. As many of Professor Jeong’s charges are based on data obtained from the computer, the results can vary greatly depending on how the court judges.

Reporter Lee Ga-young [email protected]