{"id":88096,"date":"2017-02-05T23:07:17","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T04:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=88096"},"modified":"2017-02-05T23:07:17","modified_gmt":"2017-02-06T04:07:17","slug":"s-korean-prosecutors-hope-to-interview-president-after-blue-house-search-blocked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/02\/05\/s-korean-prosecutors-hope-to-interview-president-after-blue-house-search-blocked\/","title":{"rendered":"S. Korean prosecutors hope to interview President after Blue House search blocked"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Special<\/a>
Special prosecutors investigating a far-reaching corruption scandal in South Korea hope to interrogate President Park Geun-hye this week, the first time a sitting president would face such an inquiry. (Photo: \ubc15\uadfc\ud61c Park Geun-Hye\/ Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MOSCOW \u2013Special prosecutors investigating a far-reaching corruption scandal in South Korea hope to interrogate President Park Geun-hye this week, the first time a sitting president would face such an inquiry.<\/p>\n

The team says an interrogation is tentatively planned for sometime between Wednesday and Friday, and that Park is open to the possibility of face-to-face questioning, the Yonhap news agency reports.<\/p>\n

Independent Counsel Park Young-soo is in talks with the president’s lawyers to arrange a date. It would be the first time a sitting South Korean president would be interrogated by law enforcement authorities.<\/p>\n

Questioning is likely to cover a number of topics, as according to one special counsel official, “There will be only a single chance to interrogate Park in person.”<\/p>\n

Inquiries, then, are likely to cover the president’s role in creating a cultural blacklist of artists critical of her, as well as her role in any contributions by the Samsung Group to cultural bodies controlled by her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil, whose influence is at the heart of the ever-expanding scandal. Choi has refused to speak to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

The president may also be questioned about her actions following the April 2014 sinking of a ferry that resulted in the deaths of more than 300 people, most of them school children.<\/p>\n

Members of the prosecutors’ team attempted to search the presidential residence, the Blue House, Feb. 3, but were blocked at the gate. A Blue House statement said the search was unconstitutional, as South Korea’s president cannot be charged with a crime while in office, Reuters reports.<\/p>\n

“It is a deep regret that their excessive investigation with a warrant naming the president as a suspect violates the constitution,” the statement said, referring to the prosecutor’s warrant to search the office.<\/p>\n

Special prosecution spokesman Lee Kyu-Chul said Sunday that acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn could give permission for the search to go ahead, and insisted that a search of the premises was necessary, though he would not say why. The Blue House has previously said security reasons prevented a search from being possible.<\/p>\n

Local media report that prosecutors also want to search the offices of the Blue House chief of staff and of Park’s bodyguards.<\/p>\n

Park was impeached by parliament in early December for allegedly pressuring businesses to support Choi’s initiatives and for allowing her friend undue influence over state affairs. She denies any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

The investigation has spilled over into the country’s biggest business circles, with Samsung Group head Jay Lee named as a suspect as well.<\/p>\n

South Korean law holds that the president cannot be charged with a crime other than insurrection or treason, Reuters points out.<\/p>\n

The country’s Constitutional Court has six months from the Dec. 9 date of Park’s impeachment to decide whether to remove her from office<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOSCOW \u2013Special prosecutors investigating a far-reaching corruption scandal in South Korea hope to interrogate President Park Geun-hye this week, the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":88097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,483,17],"tags":[2383,14724],"class_list":["post-88096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-politics","category-news-w","tag-park-geun-hye","tag-prosecutor","mauthors-sputnik-via-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}