President Park Geun-hye on Monday condemned the disclosure of documents regarding Chung Yoon-hoi, a former aide, calling for a thorough investigation.

“(I) do not know what the intention behind leaking the documents was, but it is an act that damages national order,” Park said at a meeting with senior presidential staff. 

Saying that real and false information accumulated at the presidential office, the president said that the country will fall into “major chaos and social discord” if information gathered by her office is released to the public without verification.

Going on to say that simple fact-checking could have determine the claims, veracity, Park said similar “groundless incidents” should not recur.

“Who leaked the documents and for what purpose must quickly be made known. The prosecution should investigate and leave no suspicion unexamined.”

On Nov. 28, a local daily reported that Chung was manipulating state affairs as a core member of an unofficial group of advisers to the president citing documents compiled by Cheong Wa Dae’s office for public servants’ discipline.

The presidential office has filed a criminal complaint against a police superintendent identified as Park for allegedly removing concerned documents from Cheong Wa Dae when he was reassigned back to the National Police Agency in February.

The officer has since been banned from leaving the country, and the prosecution plans to question him and other concerned individuals within the week.

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, which launched a fact-finding committee on the issue, raised the heat on Cheong Wa Dae.

“The truth should be found as the first case of the standing independent counsel or a parliamentary investigation,” NPAD interim leader Rep. Moon Hee-sang said. As part of the country’s political reform measures, a standing special counsel investigation system has been introduced.

“(If Cheong Wa Dae does not take decisive action) what remains of public trust will drop, and the Park Geun-hye administration will face its biggest crisis.”

The police superintendent, for his part, continued to deny the charges against him and made his own allegations implying that there was a bigger plot.

Officer Park reported for duty Monday but took off two additional days of vacation, citing health issues and a desire to avoid hampering the duties of colleagues at the Seoul police station to which he was assigned. He had taken Nov. 27 and 28 off, and remained out of the station over the weekend.

The officer claimed that he has evidence to prove that someone accessed the documents while he was still assigned to the presidential office’s department in charge of civil servants’ discipline.

“Before leaving Cheong Wa Dae, somebody copied all the documents. (I) have evidence,” Park told a local daily. He added that the presidential office is fully aware that he is not responsible for leaking the documents, and claimed that there was likely a “higher-up” who ordered the concerned documents to be copied.

He also claimed that Cheong Wa Dae downplaying the documents’ content as being no more than a collection of rumors was an attempt at undermining Jo Eung-cheon, the former presidential secretary for civil servants’ discipline.

The officer has said he is unable to discuss the content of the documents under any circumstances and that he would exercise the right to remain silent on the issue even during questioning by the prosecution.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)