Often dubbed “Puppygate” by the media, the story of the impeachment trial of South Korea’s first female president is a wild ride from start to finish.
Park Geun Hye she served as the 11th president of South Korea between 2013 and 2017. She was not only the first woman to be elected president of South Korea, but also the first woman in all of East Asia to be elected head of state. But the cause of the ruin of a woman of this magnitude was only a puppy.
The central characters in this story are three people. In addition to President Park, there is ko young taea former Olympic gold medalist fencer, and Choi Soon Sil, close confidant of the president. It all started when Mr. Ko, who had started his own bag and clothing company “Villomillo”, met Ms. Choi.
Once, a friend of Mr. Ko asked him to bring some of his latest products to a designated place for a mystery shopper. He later realized it was Ms. Choi. He then became a frequent customer of Villomillo, and some of the items he purchased with his own money also ended up in President Park’s possession. In fact, Villomillo boosted its sales and reputation significantly when the brand saw the president carrying a bag in 2013.
According to Mr. Ko, Choi Soon Sil ended up buying him about 40 luxury handbags, made of crocodile skin and ostrich skin, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars. Although Mr. Ko strongly denied the accusations of being Ms. Choi’s lover, he admitted that she trusted him very much.
However, that trust was ultimately betrayed. Mr. Ko eventually exposed Ms. Choi’s illegitimate access to presidential affairs through her extremely close relationship with President Park. But what made things sour? Well, that’s where the puppy comes into play.
In 2014, Ms. Choi asked Mr. Ko to look after her daughter’s puppy while he was away. Mr. Ko agreed, but then left the puppy at his apartment and went golfing. When he got home, he saw Ms. Choi at home, furious that he had left the puppy alone. The two had a tug of war over it. Mr. Ko said, “She treated me like a slave, insulting me many times. Offended by this behavior, he begins to look for a way to avenge himself for his insults.
Mr. Ko began collecting CCTV footage of Ms. Choi abusing presidential aides and other evidence that revealed President Park and Ms. Choi were abusing the authority of the former’s title and position. After handing them over to the press, Mr. Ko also revealed that Ms. Choi also edited Park Geun Hye’s presidential speeches, and the police eventually found evidence to support this claim as well.
These revelations turned into full-scale corruption investigations against the president and Ms. Choi. Public outrage reached an all-time high and demanded President Park’s resignation. Although the president denied the corruption allegations in court, she admitted that Ms Choi had had inappropriate access to government decision-making, including her speeches.
The abnormal amount of influence Choi Soon Sil had over the president has its roots in the 1970s when Mrs. Choi’s father, a shadowy quasi-religious figure named Choi Taeminhe befriended his father, Park Chung-hee, who was the third president of South Korea. After Park Chung Hee’s murder, Park Geun Hye reportedly took refuge in Choi Tae Min’s religion and treated him like a father figure. The influence he had on Ms. Park was then passed down from father to daughter.
The investigation concluded that Ms. Choi was guilty of bribery and extortion of money from several large companies. The de facto head of Samsung at the time was also involved in this case. In 2017, President Park was indicted and arrested in 2018, with a 24-year prison sentence for corruption.
Mr Ko has been hailed as a public hero for exposing the corruption, although he admitted he never calculated his moves. In 2021, former President Moon Jae In pardoned Park Geun Hye’s sentence due to his deteriorating health and “overcome the unfortunate history of the past, promote people’s unity and come together for the future.“