Daughter of South Korea’s ‘Rasputin’ set to return home

SEOUL: The daughter of the woman at the centre of a corruption scandal that led to the ousting of South Korea’s president will return home today from Denmark, officials said.

Chung Yoo- Ra, 20, will be ‘immediately put into custody’ when she arrives at Incheon airport after being extradited from Denmark, a justice ministry spokesman said.

The ministry sent five officials to Denmark on Monday to accompany her home, he said.

Chung is the only child of Choi Soon- Sil, the close confidante of former President Park Geun-Hye.

Choi — nicknamed ‘ Rasputin’ for her close influence over the then-president — is one of the figures in the influence-peddling scandal that sparked huge street protests demanding Park’s ousting.

Chung dropped her appeal against extradition from Denmark, a Danish court announced last week, as Seoul wants to detain her for questioning.

The daughter is the alleged beneficiary of millions of dollars which South Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung paid to finance her equestrian training and luxurious lifestyle in Europe.

During a trial session on Monday, Choi reacted angrily to news that her daughter’s extradition was imminent, news reports said.

“You don’t blackmail my daughter!” Choi screamed at prosecutors.

“Are you going to pound on the table while threatening her as you did to me?” she was quoted as saying by the JoongAng daily.

Park and Choi are already on trial for allegedly accepting or seeking millions of dollars in bribes from conglomerates including Samsung. — AFP