Deputy prime minister slammed for reversing testimony
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok was slammed on Wednesday for reversing his testimony about whether he had changed his mobile phone after former President Yoon Suk Yeol's imposition of martial law in December.
During a hearing at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee held to debate a motion to impeach Choi, he denied that he had changed his phone since martial law was imposed on Dec. 3 and lifted the next morning.
Choi was responding to a question by the liberal Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Kim Yong-min, who suspected that Choi was one of the conservative Yoon administration's officials who allegedly attempted to destroy evidence by getting a new phone.
Shortly after Choi's denial, Rep. Jung Chung-rae of the Democratic Party, who chaired the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, revealed a record that suggested Choi had changed his phone on Dec. 7.
When Jung asked Choi if the record was wrong, Choi said, "It is true I changed my phone because (the previous) one was broken."
Choi added that he kept the previous phone with him, while saying he had no intention of tampering with evidence when changing his phone.
He added he at first denied having changed phones because he could not remember the date when he did so.
Choi ended up apologizing and withdrew his earlier statement at the hearing as liberal-leaning lawmakers, including Rep. Park Eun-jung of the Rebuilding Korea Party and Rep. Park Kyoon-taek of the Democratic Party, demanded that Choi apologize to the public.
The hearing took place after the motion to impeach Choi was tabled at the National Assembly on April 2 but was not put to a vote after the Constitutional Court upheld Yoon's impeachment on April 4.
The motion against Choi cited his failure to appoint parliament-nominated Constitutional Court justice Ma Eun-hyuk at a time when Choi briefly served as acting president after both Yoon and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo were impeached.
Choi was also accused of having abetted Yoon's imposition of martial law.
Choi was earlier revealed to have received a brief note containing instructions from Yoon immediately before martial law took effect. When asked about what was written in the note, Choi said "I was not interested in the material I received because it was a surreal situation."
Regarding a controversy over his personal investment last year in US government bonds worth nearly 200 million won ($140,400), which became more valuable at a time when the Korean currency weakened against the dollar amid political turmoil, Choi said his investment decision "had nothing to do with the (recent) currency exchange rate fluctuation," adding he was "not careful enough."
The Democratic Party of Korea holds a majority of seats in the 300-member National Assembly.
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