Reuters-Danish police have
arrested the daughter of a woman at the center of a South Korean
influence-peddling scandal that has engulfed President Park Geun-hye, police
and prosecutors said on Monday.
The scandal has led
to Park's impeachment by parliament on Dec. 9, paralyzed the government and
drawn hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the streets of the capital,
Seoul, for weekly demonstrations.
South Korean
authorities had been seeking the arrest of the daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, for her
ties to the scandal in which her mother, Choi Soon-sil, is a central figure.
Park, 64, could
become South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be forced to leave
office early. The parliamentary impeachment must be confirmed or overturned by
the Constitutional Court, which has weeks to rule.
"We will
request an emergency extradition of Chung, working with the special
prosecutor's office," Lee Chul-sung, commissioner general of the Korea
National Police Agency, told a media briefing in Seoul.
Chung, a 20-year-old
equestrian competitor who trained in Germany, was arrested in the northern
Danish city of Aalborg for staying illegally, Lee said.
Park has been accused
of colluding with her friend Choi to pressure big businesses to make
contributions to non-profit foundations backing presidential initiatives.
Park, whose father
ruled the country for 18 years after seizing power in a 1961 coup, has denied
wrongdoing but apologized for carelessness in her ties with Choi, who is facing
her own trial. She also denies wrongdoing.
The special
prosecutor's office has said it has several charges against the daughter,
Chung, including criminal interference related to her academic record. It has
not given details of other charges.
'FOUR IN CUSTODY'
Lee Kyung-jae, a
lawyer representing both Choi and Chung, said the daughter would cooperate.
"When Chung
Yoo-ra returns I will ensure that she fully cooperates with the special
prosecution's investigation," the lawyer told the Yonhap News Agency.
A source in the
special prosecutors' office in Seoul, who declined to be identified, said the
office would work with European authorities to extradite Chung, which could
take one or two weeks.
Police commissioner
general Lee said a Korean citizen had alerted Danish police about Chung, who
was arrested at about 4 a.m. Seoul time (1900 GMT) on Monday.
Danish officials had
four people in custody, including Chung and a child born in 2015, Lee said.
Chung is known to have a young son.
The two others in
custody are men who appear to be Koreans in their late twenties or early
thirties, Lee said.
He said Danish
police had 24 hours to secure evidence that Chung was staying illegally in
Denmark.
South Korea's
foreign ministry has been working to invalidate Chung's passport and
authorities had asked German prosecutors for information about her whereabouts
and financial assets.
Chung won a gold
medal in the group dressage equestrian event at the 2014 Asian Games.
She became a figure
of public ire in South Korea last year after it emerged that she had received
special treatment from the prestigious Ewha Womans University, where her
admission was subsequently canceled.
News of Chung's
arrest came a day after Park broke a month-long silence over her alleged role
in the corruption scandal, publicly denying charges of wrongdoing and
describing the accusations against her as fabricated and false.
Reuters
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