S. Korea prosecutors say President Park was accomplice in corruption

South Korean prosecutors said on Sunday that they believed President Park Geun- hye was an accomplice in a corruption scandal that has rocked her administration, in a heavy blow to her fight for political survival.

The prosecutors’ comments, which came as they indicted a close friend of Park’s and two of her former aides, are likely to spur stronger calls for her to step down or be impeached.

Park’s close friend Choi Soon- sil and former presidential aide An Chongbum were charged with abuse of power by pressuring companies to contribute funds to foundations at the center of the scandal, said Lee Young- ryeol, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.

“The special investigation team concluded that based on the evidence secured to date, the president was in complicity with Choi Soon- sil, An Chong- bum and Jeong Ho- seong to a considerable degree,” Lee told a news conference.

Jeong, also one of Park’s former aides, was indicted for leaking classified information to Choi.

Park’s lawyer Yoo Yeong- ha rejected the assertion that she was involved, calling it an “imagination” and saying prosecutors “have built a house of fantasy.”

Presidential Blue House spokesman Jung Youn- kuk said the prosecutors’ announcement was “deeply regrettable.”

“The special investigation team made a claim as if the president has committed a grave crime when it announced the result of its investigation,” Jung said.

“The announcement is not truth at all but a house of cards built on repeated imagination and speculation that completely ignores objective evidence.”

Park cannot be indicted because she has constitutional immunity, prosecutor Lee said.

But he added, “We will continue to investigate the president,” without elaborating.

Under the constitution, a sitting president cannot be indicted unless on charges of treason, but the conclusion by the prosecutors that Park was involved in the case prompted fresh calls from opposition parties for her to step down.

The main opposition Democratic Party and the centrist People’s Party said Park will face impeachment proceedings if she refuses to resign.

But they stopped short of saying they would immediately initiate such a move.