Calls for Park Geun-hye to step down amid allegations friend used relationship to access official materials for personal gain

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The woman at the centre of a scandal that has plunged the South Korean presidency into crisis continues to be detained over allegations of exerting inappropriate influence in state affairs.

Prosecutors have said they are investigating whether Choi Soon-sil used her friendship with President Park Geun-hye to gain access to classified documents that enabled her to influence government matters and benefit personally through non-profit foundations.

The claims have sparked public anger and sent Park’s approval rating to a record low, with thousands of protesters rallying in Seoul to call for her to step down. Park accepted the resignations of eight of her top aides over the weekend.

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Choi, 60, arrived at the supreme prosecutor’s office in Seoul on Tuesday morning in handcuffs, a surgical mask and a dark coat, escorted by correctional officers. A prosecution official and Choi’s lawyer said she had been detained late on Monday.

Although Choi was being questioned at another location, a man used an excavator to smash the entrance of the prosecutors’ office building in an apparent protest against Choi. A security guard was injured and the man was arrested.



Han Jeung-sub, a senior official at the Seocho police station, said the 45-year-old man told police: “Choi Soon-sil said she had committed a crime she deserves to die for, so I came here to help her die.”

Prosecutors have asked eight banks for documents related to Choi’s financial transactions, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed financial industry officials.

Worried that Choi may be a flight risk and could destroy evidence, prosecutors placed her under emergency detention without a warrant late on Monday, Yonhap reported. A suspect can be held without a warrant for up to 48 hours.

Prosecutors planned to file a court request for an arrest warrant on Wednesday, Yonhap and other media said, citing a prosecution official. Prosecutors were not immediately available for comment.

Choi told South Korea’s Segye Ilbo newspaper last week that she received drafts of Park’s speeches after her election victory but denied she had access to other official material, or that she influenced state affairs or benefited financially.

Park said last week she had given Choi access to speech drafts early in her term and apologised for causing concern among the public.



Choi was being held at the Seoul Detention Centre, where the single cells for high-profile inmates are equipped with heating, a television, a folding mattress and toilet, according to media reports.



Choi returned to South Korea from Germany on Sunday under intense pressure to answer the allegations against her.

Park, 64, and Choi have known each other for decades, and the president said in a televised apology last week that her friend had helped her through difficult times.

Park’s father, Park Chung-hee, led South Korea for 18 years after seizing power in a military coup in 1961. Park Geun-hye served as acting first lady after her mother was killed by an assassin trying to shoot her father, who was himself murdered by his disgruntled spy chief in 1979.

Park is in the fourth year of a five-year term and the crisis threatens to complicate policymaking during the lame-duck period that typically sets in towards the end of South Korea’s single-term presidency. As investors fret about the political uncertainty stoked by the scandal, the won fell 0.9% last week while stocks slipped 0.7%.

Choi begged forgiveness when she arrived to meet prosecutors on Monday.