Park questioned in jail again over corruption scandal

Published : Apr 6, 2017 - 13:00 Updated : Apr 6, 2017 - 13:00

Prosecutors on Thursday grilled former President Park Geun-hye at a detention center again over corruption allegations that removed her from office.

Prosecutors arrived at the detention house in Uiwang, south of Seoul, at around 11 a.m.

Former President Park Geun-hye leaves her home in Seoul for prosecution questioning on March 21, 2017. Park, dismissed by the Constitutional Court on March 10, faces a probe on 13 criminal allegations, including graft and abuse of power. (Yonhap)

It is the second interrogation of Park since she was arrested last week. Park is known to have denied any wrongdoing during the first session in prison that lasted for nearly 11 hours.

Lawyer Yoo Yeong-ha accompanied her during the inquiry Thursday, as he did the previous time.

Park was named an accomplice in her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil‘s bribery allegations involving South Korea’s largest business group Samsung. She is also suspected of colluding with Choi in coercing nearly 77.4 billion won ($70 million) from dozens of local conglomerates in claimed donations to two nonprofit foundations allegedly controlled by Choi.

The Ministry of Justice transferred Choi, who was held at the same place as Park, to another detention house earlier in the day, following the prosecution‘s request.

Woo Byung-woo, Park’s former senior secretary for civil affairs, was questioned as a suspect at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors‘ Office on the same day.

He is one of the last figures embroiled in the scandal that has avoided detention so far, while a number of Park’s former aides were arrested and are standing trial.

The Seoul Central District Court, meanwhile, began the trial on Park‘s ex-chief of staff Kim Ki-choon and former Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun over allegations they created and managed a blacklist of cultural figures deemed critical of the government. (Yonhap)