Revealing the 'young pilot' of the South Korean President's close friend

The investigation into the scandal involving Choi Soon Sil, the close girlfriend of the South Korean president, has revealed a secret relationship between Choi and a "young pilot".

According to the Korea Times, this man's name is Ko Young Tae (40 years old), an employee of a "host bar", a term used to refer to a nightclub-like business model in Korea that specializes in serving rich but lonely ladies who come to spend money to have fun.

Ko Young Tae's office is in the building on the right, right next to Choi Soon Il's residence in another building. Both buildings are owned by Choi - Photo: Korea Times

20 years apart

Late last Thursday (October 27), after returning to Korea, Mr. Ko voluntarily went to the prosecutor's office to answer questions from investigators.

After 40 hours of questioning about why confidential documents, including speeches by President Park Geun Hye, were on his computer, Mr. Ko was allowed to return home on Saturday afternoon (October 29).

But he was summoned again on Sunday (October 30).

Details of the interrogation are not yet clear.

Mr. Ko is suspected of running the paper companies The Blue K and Widec Sports, which were set up by Ms. Choi in South Korea and Germany. These are also the two companies that are accused of embezzling money from two nonprofit foundations also set up by Ms. Choi, Mir and K-Sports.

Little is known about Mr. Ko’s background. However, he is a former member of the national fencing team, winning a gold medal at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand.

According to media reports and witnesses, Mr. Ko worked at popular host bars in the Gangnam area, south of Seoul. It is believed that Mr. Ko and Ms. Choi met and became close at one such host bar around 2006.

"Mr. Ko makes a lot of money thanks to his good looks," an anonymous man who introduced himself as Mr. Ko's colleague at the host bar said in a program broadcast on CBS on Friday (October 28).

"I think Ms. Choi is one of Mr. Ko's close customers because they are very close to each other despite the 20-year age gap between the two," the person continued.

Ms. Choi is 60 years old this year and her close relationship with a man 20 years her junior may show that a very special relationship existed between the two.

Mr. Ko's colleague said his job was as a sales manager, with the task of hunting for wealthy middle-aged women in need of entertainment for the bar host. At work, Mr. Ko used the nickname Min-woo.

"Revealing the side" because of a young lover?

With Choi's help, Ko entered the fashion industry in 2008 and launched the Villomillo fashion accessories brand. The brand became famous after South Korean President Park Geun Hye used a Ko-branded bag in 2013.

Mr. Ko immediately achieved success when his products attracted many celebrity customers and he also established a wide network of relationships.

Mr. Cha Eun Taek, the head of Mir Foundation, was an acquaintance of Mr. Ko and was introduced to Ms. Choi by Mr. Ko. This was the turning point in their relationship, which turned for the worse.

In an interview with South Korea's national cable network JTBC in the middle of this month, Mr. Ko said: "What Ms. Choi likes to do most is edit the president's speeches."

This information led JTBC to search for President Park Geun Hye's speeches in computer files. Eventually, JTBC found those files and the story turned out to be one of the hottest news stories in recent years.

This information is also extremely inconsistent with what Ms. Choi told the Segye Ilbo newspaper while in Germany: "I don't even know how to use a desktop computer," and she said that the desktop computer containing the files belonged to Mr. Ko, not hers.

According to Tuoi Tre