Main opposition party leader eyes presidential race after nomination

SEOUL — Prosecutors of the Republic of Korea on Tuesday grilled former president Park Geun-hye, who has been taken into custody over corruption allegations. Park has been held at a detention center since March 31, when a court issued an arrest warrant for her.

She was removed from office in a ruling on March 10 by the constitutional court to uphold the impeachment bill.

The special investigation headquarters of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, tasked with the probe into the corruption scandal embroiling Park, said that the questioning kicked off at 10 am.

Prosecutors visited the detention center, not summoning Park. Park was summoned on March 21 for questioning over multiple charges including bribery, abuse of power and coercion.

Park is accused of conspiring with her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil, who is also in custody and on trial, to receive tens of millions of dollars in bribes from Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong, the heir of the country’s biggest familycontrolled conglomerate.

Prosecutors already identified Park and Choi as criminal accomplices. A total of 13 charges were levied at Park.

This presidential election is not a showdown between conservatives and liberals but a choice between justice and injustice.” Moon Jae-in, Democratic Party’s leader

Choi is charged with extorting tens of millions of dollars from scores of business conglomerates to establish two nonprofit foundations she used for personal gains.

Meanwhile, the man tipped to become the country’s next president was nominated on Monday as candidate of the main opposition party, and promised “justice” in the nation.

Moon Jae-in, the left-leaning former chief of staff to president Roh Moo-hyun, became the Democratic Party’s standardbearer for the poll on May 9.

Moon, known for his softer stance on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, has suggested Seoul should engage with Pyongyang.

His conservative critics say he could also loosen the country’s long-standing alliance with the United States, which bases 28,500 troops in the country.

The 64-year-old former law-