The special team led by independent counsel Park young-soo on Wednesday grilled a former presidential secretary, as part of its investigation into the suspicion that Cheong Wa Dae created a blacklist of cultural figures believed to be critical of the government.

Kim Sang-yule, currently a professor at Sookmyung Women’s university, was summoned as a person of interest in the ongoing investigation about the supposed list. The investigators already raided the homes and offices of former Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon and incumbent Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun in relation to the list.

The former senior secretary for education and culture did not answer any questions from reporters, simply saying he will “cooperate the best he can” with the investigation.

He had been appointed to the governmental post on the recommendation of his nephew Cha Eun-taek, a jailed associate of the president’s confidante Choi Soon-sil. President Park Geun-hye, her aides and Choi are embroiled in a corruption and influence-peddling scandal that has sparked nationwide fury and led to Park’s impeachment earlier this month.

Suspicions about the blacklist date back to 2014, when Kim Ki-choon supposedly gave the order to create the list as a means to identify and disadvantage those who are critical of the Park administration. Former Culture Minister Yoo Jin-ryong claimed to have seen the list in June 2014, saying he believed it was created by the presidential office.

Evidence suggests that the list was used for the conservative government to reign in liberal figures.

A daily log by former late Presidential Secretary Kim Young-han showed that Kim Ki-choon had instructed officials “to actively respond against schemes by leftist artists.”

Park Young-soo’s team is said to suspect that the list was actually initiated by Choi and was used to weed out individuals that could get in the way of her winning state-funded projects.

Choi and former presidential aide An Chong-bum have been accused of establishing the Mir and K-Sports foundations to coerce donations from local conglomerates.

But both Choi and An have testified that both the donations and the establishment of the foundations were under orders from President Park.

It was reported earlier that a former Cheong Wa Dae official told investigators that the president had established the Mir Foundation in order to “take care of” culture circles, particularly individuals perceived as liberals.

Renowned poet Ko Eun was among those on the document, with the listed reasons simply being “supporting Moon Jae-in,” an opposition front-runner for next year’s presidential race.

Ko said that the government disgusted him, adding that it was “an honor” to be on the list.

The blacklist is said to include those who supported Moon in the 2012 presidential election, those who supported liberal Mayor Park Won-soon in the 2014 election, and those who supported the joint statement denouncing the government in the wake of the 2014 sinking of the ferry Sewol.

South Korea’s Ambassador to France Mo Chul-min, who was the presidential education and cultural affairs secretary at the time, was also summoned for questioning in relation to the list.

Key government figures embroiled in the blacklist scandal have denied the allegations. Park and Kim Ki-choon remained silent as of Wednesday, and Minister Cho denied ever seeing the list or giving orders related to the list.

The opposition responded furiously, with Rep. Kim Young-joo, a member of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea’s Supreme Council, suggesting that Cho should be taken into custody to prevent her from destroying evidence.

The parliamentary culture and education committee were to receive a report from the Culture Ministry on Wednesday afternoon.

In addition to allegations surrounding the blacklist, the independent counsel’s team also pursued their investigation on other corruption charges surrounding the embattled president.

It has been alleged that President Park received illegal medical treatments from doctors associated with Choi, in exchange for granting favors to them.

Investigators raided upscale medical clinic Chaum and Seoul National University Hospital as part of their probe on plastic surgeon Kim Young-jae, the doctor who has admitted to treating Park multiple times at Cheong Wa Dae.

He is also embroiled in suspicions that Park received aesthetic treatment on the day of the Sewol sinking that left 304 dead or missing. Park’s unexplained seven-hour absence from the public’s eye had sparked a series of suspicion, with the Constitutional Court requesting her to provide an explanation for her ongoing impeachment trial.

Her actions -- or lack thereof -- during the worst maritime disaster in the country’s history has been one of the parliament-cited reasons behind her impeachment, as the Constitutional Law stipulates that the president is obliged to protect the lives of the people during a crisis. 

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)