Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

A11
WORLD NEWS Wednesday 22 March 2017
South Korea prosecutors grill Park over corruption allegations

check whether they accu- of flag-waving supporters Prosecutors have previous-
rately described her testi- who lined up streets lead- ly accused Park of extor-
mony. ing up to her residence. tion, bribery and abuse of
When she left the prosecu- In Park’s questioning, pros- power, which could theo-
tors’ office and got into a ecutors tried to determine retically carry penalties of
black sedan waiting for whether to seek an ar- up to life imprisonment. But
her, Park didn’t make any rest warrant, according to arresting Park would be a
comments to reporters. But South Korean media. Many delicate matter because
when she arrived at her other suspects implicated in it might aggravate a na-
home in southern Seoul, live the scandal have already tional divide and create a
TV footage showed Park been arrested, including strong conservative back-
smiling, talking to ruling par- Park’s confidante Choi lash ahead of an election
ty lawmakers and giving a Soon-sil, some top govern- in May to choose her suc-
nod in gestures of greetings ment officials and Samsung cessor, some political ex-
several times for dozens heir Lee Jae-yong. perts said.q

People watch a TV news pro-
gram showing South Korean
ousted President Park Geun-
hye’s arrival at prosecutors of-
fice, at Seoul Railway Station
in Seoul, South Korea, Tues-
day, March 21, 2017.
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) —
South Korea’s just-ousted
president returned home
early Wednesday after be-
ing grilled by prosecutors in
a long-awaited investiga-
tion of corruption allega-
tions that ended her rule
and now threaten to put
her in jail. The questioning
of Park Geun-hye came 11
days after the Constitution-
al Court unanimously ruled
to dismiss her over suspi-
cions she colluded with a
confidante to extort mon-
ey from businesses and
committed other wrong-
doings. Her powers had
been suspended since she
was impeached by parlia-
ment in December.
“I am sorry to the people.
I will sincerely undergo an
investigation,” Park told re-
porters, without elaborat-
ing, when she arrived at
the prosecutors’ office on
Tuesday.
It was not clear if Park’s
brief statement meant she
acknowledged the cor-
ruption allegations, since
she has repeatedly denied
any legal wrongdoing.
South Korean politicians
embroiled in scandals of-
ten offer public apologies
for causing trouble though
they deny any involve-
ment.
Park’s questioning lasted
14 hours and ended just
before midnight. She spent
about seven more hours
at the prosecutors’ office
reviewing their report to