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former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae was briefly indicted on charges of personally using political funds. A few years ago, on the day when former Minister Chu went to Paju, Gyeonggi-do, there was a complaint that there was a problem with the use of a check card for political funds in Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do, so the prosecution had been investigating it.



Correspondent Ahn Hee-jae.



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On January 3, 2017, former Minister Choo Mi-ae, a member of the National Assembly and representative of the Democratic Party, visited a military base in Paju.



On the same day, Choo's political spending records showed that he spent 140,000 won and 50,000 won on gas at a restaurant near the Nonsan Training Center, hundreds of kilometers from Paju.



The stated purpose of use was a meeting of members of the House of Representatives.



However, this day was the day of the graduation ceremony for my son who enlisted in Nonsan Training Center.



Suspicions were raised that someone other than Choo had made a payment in Nonsan and left false records, and the prosecution launched an investigation along with the charges.



The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor's Office, which has been investigating the case, said that former Minister Chu had requested a summary order for violating the Political Funds Act by using a check card for political funds for personal use.



We accepted the recommendation of the Prosecutor's Citizen's Committee, which was convened at the request of the investigation team.



Under the Political Funds Act, political funds cannot be used for private purposes, and spending for purposes other than expenses may result in imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 4 million won.



Considering the small amount of money, the prosecution is known to have concluded with a summary order request, mainly with a fine.



The allegation that former Minister Chu spent about 2.5 million won in political funds at a restaurant run by his daughter when he was a lawmaker has passed the statute of limitations and has no right to prosecute.



(Video editing: Jo Moo-hwan)