Detention extended for ex-president Park

By Kim Bo-eun

Former President Park Geun-hye’s detention was extended, Friday, after the court approved the prosecution’s request.

Park was detained March 31 on multiple charges including bribery, abuse of power and extortion in the influence-peddling scandal which led to her impeachment.

According to the code of criminal procedures, an arrest warrant can initially detain a suspect for 10 days, with a 10-day extension upon court approval.

Park’s initial detention period ends Sunday, but since it is the weekend prosecutors requested the extension and received court approval on Friday.

Park’s detention will last until April 19. Prosecutors must indict and put the suspect on trial before the detention period ends.

Considering official campaigning for the presidential election begins April 17, prosecutors are expected to indict Park before then to minimize the case’s impact on the election.

Prosecutors will question her today, her third interrogation since she was detained.

She faces 13 charges, but continued denying all of them during prosecutors’ questioning at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday.

Park’s former civil affairs secretary Woo Byung-woo was questioned by the prosecution on Thursday and Friday over his involvement in the presidential scandal. He was released early Friday morning.

The prosecution plans to seek an arrest warrant for Woo who faces charges of overlooking or abetting the meddling in state affairs by Park’s confidant Choi Soon-sil.

Woo said in response to a reporter’s question that he did not know Choi, on his way into the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office for interrogation. Previous findings, however, showed Woo’s mother-in-law played golf with Choi, and a golf course owned by his mother-in-law had business ties with a Choi-owned company.

He also faces charges of ordering the resignation of officials who did not follow Cheong Wa Dae’s orders. In addition, Woo, as a former prosecutor, allegedly impeded the prosecution’s investigations into the Sewol ferry disaster.

In February, the independent counsel team which investigated the scandal sought an arrest warrant for Woo but was denied it.