Fate in PM’s hands

Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn attends a meeting at a welfare center in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Friday. Hwang is expected to announce whether he will extend the mandate of the independent counsel investigating the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil, on Saturday or Sunday. If extended, the counsel team is likely to question Park as a civilian on the assumption that the Constitutional Court upholds the National Assembly’s impeachment in March as predicted. If Hwang rejects the call, the team’s probe will end on Feb. 28.