S Korea’s Park seeks more time from prosecutors

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye will not be ready to appear before prosecutors until next week, despite their demand to question her sooner over a snowballing political scandal, her lawyer said on Thursday. Park, who would be the first sitting president to be quizzed in a criminal case, has seen her approval ratings plunge in recent weeks, with hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to Seoul’s streets on Saturday demanding her resignation.

The scandal centres around Park’s shadowy confidant Choi Soon-Sil, who is accused of using her ties with the President to coerce local firms to donate millions of dollars to non-profit foundations that Choi then used for personal gain. Prosecutors have said they need to question Park by Friday at the latest as part of their investigation into Choi. 

Choi is also accused of interfering in state affairs to the extent of nominating officials and editing Park’s speeches even though she has no official title or security clearance.