Roundup: S. Korean court rejects arrest warrant for ex-presidential aide tasked with inspection

A South Korean court rejected an arrest warrant early Wednesday for a former senior aide to impeached President Park Geun-hye who is suspected of assisting, or at least conniving at, intervention by Park's longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil into state affairs.

Special prosecutors investigating the corruption scandal embroiling President Park requested a warrant on Sunday to detain Woo Byung-woo, former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs tasked with inspecting government officials over corruption and overseeing prosecutorial and intelligence agencies.

A judge at the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the request, saying a room remained for conflicts of legality and that there wasn't enough justification to take him into custody.

The arrest warrant for Woo was sought on multiple charges, including abuse of power and dereliction of duty, but Woo has denied the charges, saying he just obeyed the president's orders without knowing who the Choi Soon-sil was.

His denial has been considered a blazing lie as his post in the presidential office monitors possible corruptions by public officers, verifies the suitability of nominees for major government positions and oversees police, intelligence and prosecutorial agencies.

It is alleged that his mother-in-law and Choi have maintained close relationship for long, and that his promotion to the senior presidential secretary was influenced by Choi.

Woo is suspected of demoting senior government officials in the culture and sports ministry who are unflattering to Choi, Park's decades-long friend who is at the center of the influence-peddling scandal.

He is alleged to have abused his power to obstruct investigation into the 2014 ferry-sinking disaster that claimed lives of 304 passengers, mostly high school students on a school trip to the southern resort island of Jeju.

The career prosecutor may not be responsible for the tragic disaster, but he is accused of trying to influence state prosecutors' probe into the coast guard to protect President Park, who had apparently been missing for the first seven hours when the passenger ferry Sewol was sinking.

Woo is also suspected of neglecting his duty by conniving at Choi's intervention in state affairs behind the scenes and trying to covering up the scandal until he resigns as the senior presidential secretary in late October last year. Endit