President Park Geun-hye’s ex-presidential aide admitted at a court hearing Wednesday to leaking government secrets to Park’s civilian friend Choi Soon-sil under direct orders from the president.  

Choi’s alleged meddling in state affairs, including editing presidential speeches behind the scenes, was one of the major reasons behind Park’s impeachment on Dec. 9. Choi is Park’s confidante of some 40 years. She has had no government post or policy background. 

“I admit that I delivered documents to Choi and made revisions to them according to Choi’s opinions,” Jeong Ho-seong said during the hearing held at Seoul Central District Court. “President Park told me to confirm with Choi and reflect her opinions in the documents.”

The former presidential secretary, who is charged with colluding with Park to leak over 200 classified documents to Choi, had earlier denied Park’s involvement during a preparatory hearing in late December.

While implicating Park in the unauthorized sharing of information with Choi, Jeong also sought to defend the embattled president, who is currently standing trial on her impeachment.  

“Park only intended to check once more to better run the country,” he said. “I also did my best to better assist her in her job. I feel heartbroken to hear the accusation that I colluded with her to commit a crime.” 

He is suspected of leaking about 180 presidential documents, including 47 state secrets, to Choi between January 2013 and April 2016. Jeong and Choi were found to have exchanged 1,197 text messages and 895 phone calls between February 2013 and December 2014. Prosecutors have submitted audio files of his phone conservations with Choi and Park -- found on his phone seized by investigators -- as evidence.

The influence-peddling scandal engulfing the country first came to the fore after presidential speeches, policy drafts and President Park’s photos and undisclosed schedules were discovered on a tablet PC supposedly owned by Choi and later obtained by a local cable network. 

Choi has so far denied ownership of the tablet PC. She is now standing trial on charges of abuse of power, extortion and fraud. 

The next hearing for Jeong is scheduled for Feb. 16. He is also set to appear before the Constitutional Court on Thursday to testify in Park’s impeachment trial.

Park was impeached over allegations that she let Choi interfere with state affairs, colluded with Choi and presidential aides to extort money from local firms for entities controlled by Choi and failed to save lives during the 2014 ferry disaster.

By Ock Hyun-ju  (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)