South Korean President Park Geun-Hye had a collusive role in a corruption and influence-peddling scandal engulfing her government, prosecutors said today, as they formally laid out charges against Park's close confidante and two former presidential aides.
The scandal has sparked nationwide fury, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets to call for Park's resignation, providing a stark challenge to her authority.
"We, based on the evidence collected so far... View that the president played a collusive role in a considerable portion of the criminal activities involving the (three) people," said Lee Young-Ryeol, who is leading a probe into the scandal.
Park's ally Choi Soon-Sil and one of Park's former aides were arrested earlier this month on charges of fraud and abuse of power. Another presidential aide was arrested for leaking confidential state documents.
Choi, 60, has been accused of using her personal ties with the president to meddle in state affairs and coerce local firms to "donate" tens of millions of dollars to dubious non-profit foundations she then used for personal gain.
Park faces allegations that she helped Choi extract money from the firms and ordered her aides to leak state documents to Choi, who has no official title or security clearance.
Under Seoul's constitution, the incumbent president cannot be charged with a criminal offence except insurrection or treason but she can still be probed by prosecutors and potentially charged after leaving office.
Lee acknowledged that prosecutors could not formally charge Park for now but vowed to continue to investigate her.
Park earlier promised to answer prosecutors' questions -- making her the first South Korean president to be quizzed by prosecutors while in office.
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