four days of waiting
Dae Jang-dong 'Keyman' Nam-wook flew to San Diego to find lawyer.
It was not easy to meet lawyer Nam-wook.
The only clue, the Korean church where the lawyer Nam's family attended, had a website closed.
He used various methods such as inquiring about Korean groups and real estate agents in San Diego to find the location of lawyer Nam's house.
There were many rumors that the whole family had already left the San Diego home, but when I went there, I found lawyer Nam's wife, former broadcast reporter Jeong Mo, and their children at home.
I checked that there was someone in the house and rang the bell, but there was no answer.
After waiting until the sun went down, I was able to meet lawyer Nam's wife.
Former reporter Jeong, the wife of lawyer Nam, who opened the front door wearing a hat and a mask, showed an uneasy look.
She said that she had only her children and herself at home, and that she had cut off contact with her husband, lawyer Nam, for a long time.
So, Jeong's assertion was that she could only know where her husband was staying and when she would go to Korea only by looking at the media reports.
I have absolutely no knowledge of the numerous allegations in the media, and I insisted that I had nothing to do with it and I had absolutely nothing to do with it because the Wirye New Town project as well as the Daejang-dong project were all my husband's business.
After that, the reporters went back and forth in front of the lawyer's house from time to time to wait for the lawyer to return, but there was no news at all.
On the third day, lawyer Nam returned his passport to the Consulate General of Los Angeles and learned that he was going to Korea soon.
If I go to Korea this time, I think that I will definitely see my young children at least once and return to my country, in a situation where I don't know when I will come out again.
The reporters reluctantly visited the front of the lawyer's house the evening before Nam's departure date.
I got out of the car to try to ring the doorbell just in case you were already at home, and I saw someone walking from the other side.
As the black silhouette in the darkness gradually drew closer to the reporters, his face began to appear.
He had long hair, a skinny body, a tired face, and a lawyer named Nam-wook.
Was it because the wait was long?
As if I had seen a celebrity, I recklessly greeted him and approached him.
At first, lawyer Nam seemed a bit surprised, but he quickly found time to relax as he didn't think that there would be a reporter in front of the house until this late hour.
Attorney Nam, who politely declined the interview with a bright smile, stopped by the reporter saying he had been waiting for four days, saying that he would answer only a few questions he was curious about.
That's how the conversation with lawyer Nam Wook began, which lasted over an hour and a half.
The answer to 'he' changes
Attorney Nam continued almost the same assertion he had made in his first video interview with JTBC. The Daejang-dong development project did not intervene at all since 2015, so he did not know what happened after that, and the work he had done before that was limited.
However, a strange change was detected in Nam's remarks. This is the answer to the question about 'He' that appears in the transcript of Chairman Manbae Kim. In a video interview with JTBC, when asked about 'him', lawyer Nam said, 'Chairman Man-bae Kim was the eldest, and he used the title of 'brother' with Yoo Dong-gyu, former head of planning at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, but did not use the word 'he'. ' he said. This answer, which was interpreted as not being the 'he' that Chairman Kim Man-bae said was not the former general manager Yoo Dong-gyu, left a lingering impression.
However, when the reporter asked again if he knew who 'he' was, the answer changed this time. When Chairman Kim Man-bae and former general manager Yoo Dong-gyu met with each other, they called Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung as 'Mayor Lee Jae-myung, Mayor Lee Jae-myung', but never used an exalted word like 'he'. In the previous JTBC video interview, if the answer was interpreted that 'He' was not Yoo Dong-gyu, the former general manager, this time he gave an answer that reads that it is not Lee Jae-myung. However, he did not clearly say, 'I am not candidate Lee Jae-myung.' First of all, he emphasized once again that he did not know the exact contents because he was not at the place where the recording was being made. He also said that the reason this incident has grown so much is because he is related to a powerful presidential candidate, and that is why it is scary and burdensome to get involved in politics by directly mentioning the politician's name.
However, it seems that lawyer Nam's answer regarding 'he' changed again the day after this conversation with SBS, just before boarding the plane to Korea. According to the JTBC report, lawyer Nam said, "As far as I know, he has nothing to do with candidate Lee Jae-myung" before the reporters even asked him. As the return trip approached, the nuances of lawyer Nam's remarks about 'him' seemed to change, and in the end, he broke his previous position of not mentioning the politician's name and actively denied it, saying, 'I am not candidate Lee Jae-myung.'
In a conversation with reporters in front of the house, Attorney Nam said several times that he was “a sole trader,” and was afraid that the suspicion of large-scale operation had grown so large that it shook the presidential election.
The prosecution said, "I heard that he was trying to 'goal' (arrest) somehow." He said that he honestly did not want to enter.
In particular, with regard to the fact that the arrest warrant for Chairman Kim Man-bae was dismissed, he was worried that he might be covering up Chairman Kim's crimes as well.
Attorney Nam was also concerned about his own life, saying, "I don't know if it's true, but there are even people who say that candidate Lee Jae-myung sent people to the United States to find him." I have repeatedly said that I am afraid of being punished for a crime I did not commit.
Lawyer Nam said that he had been contacted by the prosecution after seeing an interview he had done with the media, and he was very worried that he would be at a disadvantage if the story he talked about today was also reported.
Only lawyer Nam will know why lawyer Nam's answer to 'him' has changed as the return date approaches.
However, it is easy to guess that lawyer Nam, who met with reporters right before the prosecution's investigation, would have answered in the direction that he thought was most advantageous to him.
"Ex-CEO Yoo Dong-gyu said, 'I will become the president'"
Right before the reporters met with lawyer Nam-wook, a recording of lawyer Nam was released and became controversial. At a meeting with residents of Daejang-dong in 2014, lawyer Nam said, "If Mayor Lee Jae-myung is re-elected, the project will proceed rapidly, and Director Dong-gyu Yoo will become the next president of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation." When asked why he said this, lawyer Nam countered that he did not know why this was controversial. From the perspective of a business person, if the market that has confirmed the public-private joint development business model changes, a completely different contractor would be selected.
Even if that part is true, when asked why he made the remark, "Director Dong-gyu Yoo becomes the president," lawyer Nam replied, "Because he said that. Because he went there saying he wanted to be himself." At that time, the general manager Dong-gyu Dong was talking about that he would become the next president. The reporter asked, "Then, if the former general manager Yoo Dong-gyu was in a position to make his own decisions at the time?" Attorney Nam seemed a bit bewildered and said, "How would I know that? He knew he wasn't close." From then on, he did not answer the reporter's question about the situation again and avoided it.
When asked about his relationship with Choi Yoon-gil, then chairman of the Seongnam City Council, lawyer Nam answered that he was a person who helped him a lot.
When asked if he had given any money or other valuables to Chairman Choi, he did not affirm or deny it, but replied, "That is something I will go to the prosecution and state."
In fact, it felt like an acknowledgment of the answer.
Since then, there have been reports that lawyer Nam Wook and accountant Jeong Young-hak found Chairman Choi Yoon-gil and lived in the city council, but the prosecution's investigation seems inevitable.
A turbulent return home... Poor prosecution investigation
The scene of the return of Nam-wook, the 'Keyman', whom the former media had caught up with, and the prosecution immediately arrested him as soon as he arrived at the airport.
At first glance, lawyer Nam's investigation into the prosecutor's office, which seemed turbulent, has yet to make any progress without a request for an arrest warrant.
Recently, there are reports that the prosecution is preparing a request for an arrest warrant for Nam, but there seems to be concern about whether it will be dismissed as it was during the time of Chairman Kim Man-bae.
Attorney Nam appointed a large domestic law firm to respond to prosecution investigations even before returning to Korea.
Attorney Nam also said that one of the reasons why he left his family in San Diego and lived alone in a distant place was because he had to talk to lawyers on the phone all night in time with the time difference in Korea.
Lawyer Nam never visited the media first, but he did not avoid the media that came to him.
At that opportunity, he showed a skillful appearance in delivering the message he wanted to say.
It remains to be seen how the investigation of Attorney Nam-wook will be completed and whether it will be the key to solving the suspicion of large-scale operation like the modifier 'Keyman'.
(Photo = Yonhap News)
▶ [Exclusive] Nam-wook "Tell me that Dong-gyu Yoo himself will be the president"