A former presidential official on Thursday denied charges of leaking a classified document claiming a power struggle among President Park Geun-hye’s inner circle as the trial for the high-profile case began.
Speaking during the first hearing at the Seoul Central District Court, former presidential secretary Cho Eung-cheon denied having broken the rules on presidential document management or having divulged state secrets.
“Basically, Cho denies all the charges against him because he didn’t order one of his subordinates to leak the document,” his attorney told the judges.
Earlier this month, Cho was indicted on charges of leaking confidential information and thus violating the Presidential Records Management Act.
The document centers around allegations that Park’s former aide from her lawmaker days tried to pull strings to replace the president’s current chief of staff, Kim Ki-choon.
The former aide holds no official position in the Park administration, but had been regularly briefed on state matters by a dozen presidential aides since October 2013, a local daily, the Segye Times, reported in November, citing the document.
Cho, the former presidential official, is believed to have ordered the document leak through a former subordinate, according to prosecutors.
Also on hand at the hearing was a superintendent surnamed Han, who is accused of copying said documents and leaking them to another police officer, who was later found dead in an apparent suicide.
He said he had found the documents sitting outside his office and decided to pass them onto the police officer without knowing they would be leaked.
Prosecutors requested that a subsequent hearing be held behind closed doors, considering there are sensitive documents involved.
The judges have yet to deliberate on whether to make the hearings public.
Announcing the results of a monthlong investigation into the case, the prosecution concluded that the document was fabricated by a senior police officer. (Yonhap)
