The South Korean Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said on that South Korean President Park Geun-hye would be questioned as part of a probe over a political scandal engulfing her presidency, but the timing was yet to be decided.
It would be the first time a sitting president is questioned by prosecutors.
A prosecutors’ office official said that the chairman of Hyundai Motor was questioned on Saturday on whether Park or anyone involved in an influence peddling scandal put improper pressure on conglomerate bosses to raise funds for foundations at the center of the case.
Photo: EPA
Prosecutors are to question Park over suspicion that she let a shadowy longtime confidante manipulate power from behind the scenes, state-run Yonhap news agency reported yesterday.
The explosive scandal is the most serious challenge for Park, whose public apologies have done little to calm public anger.
Yonhap quoted a Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office official as saying that the questioning is most likely to take place later this week. The official was not named.
The Yonhap Korean-language service quoted an unidentified prosecution official as saying prosecutors want to question Park face-to-face either tomorrow or on Wednesday at the latest.
The report said that prosecutors conveyed their position to Park’s office and were awaiting a response.
The presidential Blue House had no immediate comment on the Yonhap report.
Park could respond as early as Tuesday after she appoints a lawyer to represent her, Park’s spokesman said without elaborating further.
In addition to allegedly manipulating power, the president’s confidante, Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of a late cult leader who emerged as Park’s mentor in the 1970s, is also suspected of exploiting her presidential ties to bully companies into donating tens of millions of US dollars to foundations she controlled.
Choi was formally arrested on Nov. 3 on charges of fraud and abuse of power. Prosecutors have until Sunday to formally charge her.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters on Saturday flooded Seoul’s streets to demand Park’s resignation in what may be South Korea’s largest protest since it shook off dictatorship three decades ago.
In an attempt to stabilize the situation, Park on Tuesday last week said that she would let the opposition-controlled parliament choose her prime minister, but opposition parties say her words are meaningless without specific promises about transferring much of her presidential powers to a new second in charge.
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