Seoul: The woman at the centre of a political scandal that has cast the South Korean presidency into crisis was detained late on Monday, a prosecution official said, hours after she had arrived at the office of local prosecutors to answer questions.
Prosecutors are investigating allegations that Choi Soon-sil used her friendship with President Park Geun-hye to influence state affairs by gaining access to classified documents and benefited personally through non-profit foundations, another prosecution official said earlier.
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The centre of South Korea's political scandal
Choi Soon-Sil, the daughter of a Religious cult figure, is mobbed as she arrives at the Korean centre of prosecution to face allegations she used her friendship with the South Korean President for political and financial gain.
Park is in the fourth year of a five-year term and the crisis threatens to complicate policymaking during the lame-duck period that typically sets in toward the end of South Korea's single-term presidency.
Worried that Choi may be a flight risk and could destroy evidence, prosecutors placed her under emergency detention without a warrant, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.
The prosecution official confirmed that she had been arrested and taken to a Seoul detention facility, declining provide further details.
On Tuesday morning, Choi arrived by prison bus at the prosecutors' office, escorted by correctional officers, according to a live broadcast by Yonhap News TV.
YTN TV said that Choi, 60, lost her shoe as the throng converged on her, and a protester reportedly tried to enter the building with a bucket full of animal feces.
Choi's lawyer was not immediately available for comment early on Tuesday.
Under South Korean law, a suspect can be held under emergency arrest without a warrant for up to 48 hours. A longer detention requires an arrest warrant issued by a court.
Choi begged forgiveness when she arrived to meet prosecutors earlier on Monday.
In an interview with South Korea's Segye Ilbo newspaper published on Thursday, Choi said she received drafts of Park's speeches after Park's election victory but denied she had access to other official material, or that she influenced state affairs or benefited financially.
Park said last week she had given Choi access to speech drafts early in her term and apologised for causing concern among the public.
Park has fired some of her closest aides to try to contain the fallout. Some lawmakers and the public have called for Park's resignation or impeachment, and thousands of people have protested in the streets.
It's not clear how much influence Choi had. But many South Koreans believe there is much more to the story than Park has acknowledged.
Choi has been close to Park since Choi's father, the leader of a religious cult, gained Park's trust by reportedly convincing her that he could communicate with her assassinated mother. Choi's father denied this in a 1990 media interview.
The senior government official who later shot and killed Park's dictator father, President Park Chung-hee, is said to have claimed that he staged his attack in part because Park Chung-hee wouldn't keep Choi's father away from the young Park Geun-hye.
Reuters, AP