By Shim Jae-yun
Staff Reporter

Chong Wa Dae on Monday denied allegations that Culture and Tourism Minister Chung Dong-chea improperly used his influence to enable a pro-administration media chief’s wife obtain the post of professor at a university in Seoul just ahead of his nomination as the minister.

``We concluded there has been no compelling evidence to back up the assertion by Professor Chung Jin-suk of Sungkyunkwan University that Minister Chung exercised his influence to help the individual concerned via Vice Culture Minister Oh Jee-chul,’’ presidential spokesman Kim Jong-min said during a press briefing.

The influence peddling scandal has recently been a huge political burden for President Roh Moo-hyun as Chung has been a key associate of the head of state.

Critics have also pointed out that the presidential office has serious problems in its reporting system as the relevant departments had not received the information on the related petition submitted by Professor Chung to the civil affairs division at the time Chung was about to be tapped as the minister.

Chong Wa Dae said it had searched the contents of conversations on 17 telephones, including six of Minister Chung, to get to the bottom of the recent incident.

According to a Chong Wa Dae announcement, Seo and his wife called for a favor from Korean National University of Arts head Shim Kwang-hyun in early June who conveyed their wish to Vice Culture Minister Oh Jee-chul.

Oh called on Professor Chung to extend the favor to Seo’s wife, saying Seo is well acquainted with Minister Chung. ``In the process Seo indicated that he had been maintaining a close relationship with Chung, which proved to be false,’’ Kim said.

Oh tendered his resignation June 1 amid growing controversy over the matter, and it was accepted by President Roh.

On the basis of the analysis of the telephone conversation, Chung had never telephoned any of the relevant figures and had not allowed them to use his name in bids to help Seo’s wife to obtain the position of professor at the university, Kim said.

``But Vice Minister Oh’s behavior was inappropriate and violated the requirement of maintaining a certain code of conduct as a high-raking official, and so he deserved punishment,’’ he added.

jayshim@koreatimes.co.kr