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Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of President Park Geun-hye, was questioned by prosecutors Monday over allegations of interfering in state affairs and peddling influence, a day after she returned from Europe where she had been residing for nearly two months.
The 60-year-old appeared before the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office to undergo questioning. She had already apologized through her attorney and said she came to cooperate with the investigation.
The woman, who holds no governmental post, is suspected of meddling in state affairs via her decades-old friendship with the president. Choi is also accused of siphoning off funds from two nonprofit organizations that received donations from local companies to support various cultural projects and help athletes.
The summons came amid calls that she should have been arrested on arrival. Her lawyer Lee Jae-kyung said he had asked the investigators to delay Choi's summons for a day to give her time to rest, as she is not in good health due to pre-existing medical conditions and the long journey.
On Tuesday, the president apologized in a nationally televised address over allegations raised against her and the confidante, admitting to leaking dozens of presidential speeches to Choi before they were made public.
Choi is a daughter of Park's late mentor Choi Tae-min, a leader of a questionable religious group who died in 1994. Park is known to have developed a friendship with the Choi family after her mother and then-first lady Yook Young-soo was assassinated in 1974.
Faced with growing calls from the public to take responsibility for the scandal, Park carried out a partial reshuffle of her secretariat Sunday. The chief executive will soon fill in other vacant positions, according to presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk.
The latest scandal has sent Park's approval rating to the 10-percent range, the lowest point seen during her presidency that began February 2013, according to local pollster Gallup Korea.
On Saturday, thousands of protesters took to the streets of downtown Seoul to demand her resignation.
(YONHAP)
