Prosecutors are set to summon tainted Park

Impeached President to be questioned as criminal suspect

South Korean prosecutors would summon former President Park Geun-hye, whose impeachment was confirmed by the country’s highest court last week, for questioning as a criminal suspect, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Ms Park has been named as an accomplice to the secret confidante at the heart of a corruption and influence-peddling scandal that triggered her dramatic downfall.

Confirmation of her impeachment by the top court stripped her of immunity from criminal prosecution.

“We will decide on Wednesday when to summon former President Park and inform her,” the spokesman of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office said.

It has not yet been decided whether Ms Park would be called in to the prosecutors’ office in private, or publicly before TV cameras and photographers, he added.

As President, Ms Park had refused to make herself available for questioning to special prosecutors investigating the scandal, despite multiple requests.

Similarly, the Constitutional Court had asked her to appear before it as it held a series of hearings while considering whether to confirm or overturn her impeachment by Parliament, but she did not do so.

Ms Park has been holed up in her house in Seoul, with hundreds of her diehard supporters staging sit-ins.

Clashes are expected if prosecution authorities try to force their way through the crowd surrounding the building to deliver the summons.