S.Korea's Park questioned for 21 hours

Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye spend more than 21 hours at the Prosecutor's Office here, where she was questioned over her role in the "Female Rasputin" corruption scandal, a media report said on Wednesday.

Park, who appeared for the first time before investigators after losing her presidential immunity on March 10, was questioned for 14 hours and spent seven more reviewing her statement, Efe news reported.

She looked exhausted as she left the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for her home in Gangnam district. She did not speak to the media gathered there.

During the process, she denied all charges, including bribery and abuse of power, but further details on her statements have not been given yet.

Outside the headquarters of the Prosecutor's Office and also around her residence huge crowd of followers gathered to cheer her.

Park has been South Korea's first head of state who was dismissed since the country returned to democratic elections in 1987, a fact that her supporters regard as stemming from a plot from the left and the media.

The Constitutional Court approved her impeachment on March 10 due to her involvement in the "Rasputin" corruption scandal in which the main accused Choi Soon-sil, is her long-time friend.

The decision by the country's highest judicial body has forced the cabinet of incumbent President Hwang Kyo-ahn to convene early presidential elections on May 9.

A total of 30 people have been charged so far in the scandal which involves 53 companies, including conglomerates such as LG, Hyundai and Samsung., whose de facto president Lee Jae-yong is being held and tried.

Samsung's de facto president Lee Jae-yong is being held and tried for allegedly approving bribes to foundations allegedly created and controlled by Choi.

--IANS

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