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March 22, 2017

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Park questioned in corruption scandal

SOUTH Korean prosecutors finished questioning ousted president Park Geun-hye late yesterday after 14 hours, in an investigation into corruption, the Yonhap news agency reported.

She was expected to head home early today after checking deposition reports by the prosecutors.

The former president apologized yesterday as she arrived at the prosecutors office for questioning as a criminal suspect in a corruption scandal that has gripped the country for several months.

Park, 65, became South Korea’s first democratically elected president to be removed from office when the Constitutional Court this month upheld her impeachment by parliament in December.

She has been accused of colluding with a friend, Choi Soon-sil, to pressure businesses to donate to two foundations that backed her policy initiatives. Park and Choi have both denied wrongdoing.

“I am sorry to the people. I will faithfully cooperate with questioning,” Park said in front of media at the steps of the prosecutors’ office building, her first comments directly to the public since she was dismissed.

Park has not been charged but could face more than 10 years in jail if convicted of receiving bribes from bosses of conglomerates, including Samsung Group chief Jay Y. Lee, in return for favors.

An official from the prosecutors office told reporters Park had been forthcoming but he declined to elaborate on what she had been asked, her responses or what charges she might face.

Hundreds of Park’s flag-waving supporters gathered outside her home in Seoul’s upmarket Gangnam district to see her off, and later gathered outside the prosecutors office.

Meanwhile, a Danish court will rule on April 19 on an extradition appeal by a South Korean woman wanted for questioning in relation to the scandal, Denmark’s public prosecutor said yesterday.

Chung Yoo-Ra is the daughter of Choi Soon-sil.




 

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