Rep. Cho Kuk (center), who was former President Moon Jae-in’s justice minister, speaks during a press conference at Seoul’s central Gwanghwamun Square on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
Rep. Cho Kuk, an ally of former Democratic Party of Korea President Moon Jae-in, is due to be sentenced by the highest court in three weeks.
Cho faces a dozen charges. Most notably he is charged with using illicit means to get his children into prestigious schools, for which his wife Chung Kyung-shim was handed four years in jail in 2022. The court ruling led to their daughter Cho Min losing her admission to Korea University and medical school at Pusan National University.
He is also charged with abusing his power while he was senior presidential secretary for Moon to interfere with an internal probe into allegations into another close aide of the then-president.
The Supreme Court said Friday that the final hearing sentencing for Cho will be held on Dec. 12. If the two-year jail term given by lower courts is confirmed, he will lose his seat at the National Assembly as well as his eligibility to run for public office.
The allegations surrounding Cho and his family first surfaced in 2019 after he was named Moon’s justice minister. He served for 35 days as minister before stepping down.
The criminal investigation of the Cho family was spearheaded by then-attorney general Yoon Suk Yeol. The Democratic Party backlash against Yoon at the time gave rise to his presidential bid three years later.
Ahead of the National Assembly general election in April, Cho founded the Rebuilding Korea Party comprising mostly Democratic Party-affiliated figures. His party ended up winning 12 seats, all of them proportional representatives.
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