Korean prosecutors indict secretive confidante of Park

Popping out from the smaller piñata was a Barbie doll on a stuffed horse, meant to be Choi’s daughter, an equestrian athlete who allegedly got a virtual free pass into an elite university because of her family’s presidential ties.

President Park Geun-hye colluded with her former aides in an influence-peddling case that included undue pressure on South Korean corporations to raise tens of millions of dollars for foundations controlled by her friend, a South Korean prosecutor said Sunday. Jeong is dubbed as one of “three knobs of a door” that leads directly into President Park as he aided her for nearly two decades.

Park has pledged to cooperate in an investigation into the scandal.

(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon). South Korean protesters stage a rally calling for South Korean President Park Geun-hye to step down in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016.

Jung Ho-sung, the other former aide who was indicted, was accused of passing on classified presidential documents to Choi, including information on ministerial candidates.

Jung said that the president plans to prove her innocence by “actively cooperating” with an independent investigation pushed by a special prosecutor.

Many of her remaining supporters, some of whom refer to themselves as “the 5 per cent”, are loyal to Ms Park’s father, Mr Park Chung Hee, a military strongman who ruled South Korea for 18 years until he was assassinated by his spy chief in 1979.

“We will continue to investigate the president”, Lee said.

It is the fourth week running a mass candlelit rally has been held in Seoul to demonstrate against Park Geun-hye.

The eight political heavyweights confirmed that President Park’s clear and grave offenses are a ground for impeachment, agreeing to ask the three parties and the parliament to discuss the impeachment while separately continuing a campaign to force the president to step down.

To corroborate its claim that Park carried out her official schedule for seven hours from 10:30 a.m. on the day of the disaster, Cheong Wa Dae repeated Park received a series of briefings from the National Security Office and the office of the senior presidential secretary for political affairs.

Organizers said that protests in Seoul drew some 450,000 activists who chanted “Park Geun-Hye resign” as they gathered in central Seoul- police put the number at 155,000. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.

Choi also pressured major firms including the South’s largest carmaker Hyundai and the top steelmaker Posco to award lucrative contracts to firms linked to Choi, he added.

Prosecutors are investigating whether Kim played a role in a recent decision by his ministry to provide a cash subsidy to a winter sports foundation run by Choi’s niece, who is widely seen as her key aide.

This Saturday was the fourth protest rally since the scandal involving President Park and her decades-long confidente burst into a fit of rage last month.

Her term lasts until February 2018.

If she steps down before the presidential election in December next year, an election must be held within 60 days.