World: Park grilled for 14 hours over graft
Former SK president says will cooperate with prosecutors
Former South Korean President Park Geun- hye left prosecutors’ offices early on Wednesday after being questioned in an investigation into a corruption scandal that brought an early end to her political career.
Park did not respond to reporters’ questions as she emerged from the building after nearly 22 hours and got into a waiting car to be driven to her home in the capital, Seoul.
Prosecutors questioned Park as a criminal suspect for the first time since the Constitutional Court on March 10 upheld her December impeachment by parliament.
Park is accused of colluding with a friend, Choi Soon- sil, to pressure big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back the former president’s policy initiatives.
She and Choi have denied wrongdoing.
Prosecutors have declined to comment on whether Park will be called back for more questioning or whether they would seek an arrest warrant.
They did not discuss the details of the questions but said Park was responding well to the investigation.
Park, 65, South Korea’s first democratically elected presi- dent to be removed from office, issued a brief statement on arrival at the prosecutors’ offices on Tuesday, her first public remarks since her downfall.
“I am sorry to the people. I will faithfully cooperate with questioning,” Park said.
The questioning lasted 14 hours until just before midnight, one of her lawyers, Sohn Bum- gyu, told reporters.
She and her lawyers reviewed her statements made to the investigators, before leaving at 6: 55 am.
Park has not been charged but could face more than 10 years in jail if convicted of re- ceiving bribes from bosses of big conglomerates, including Samsung Group chief Lee Jaeyong , in return for favors.
Sohn later told Reuters Park wanted to express her gratitude to the prosecutors.
“We appreciate the prosecutors and the people there who have tried to find the truth,” Sohn said. “We’ve seen truth starting to appear.”
Park waved to supporters as she was driven back home and smiled and spoke briefly to some outside her home as she got out of the car.