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S. Korean prosecutors to push face-to-face questioning of president

Xinhua, November 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Korean prosecutors plan to push a face-to-face questioning of President Park Geun-hye though Park's attorney said the president would reject any interrogation request from the prosecutors.

An official of a special investigative unit in the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office was quoted by local media as saying on Monday that the prosecution office is scheduled to request the interrogation anytime soon as it plans to continue to push the face-to-face questioning.

The president's lawyer said on Sunday that Park will reject any interrogation demand from prosecutors and that she will accept an investigation from an independent counsel.

The independent counsel bill was passed through the National Assembly last week. If the bill is approved at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the special prosecutor is forecast to launch its independent investigation early next month along with four deputy independent counsels, 20 dispatched prosecutors and 40 investigators.

On Sunday, the prosecution office in charge of the case involving the president and her longtime confidante, Choi Soon-sil, identified Park as a criminal accomplice to Choi and her two former aides in many of criminal acts.

Choi and the former presidential aides were indicted for multiple charges including abuse of power and extortion. Park became the first sitting South Korean president to be investigated by prosecutors for a criminal conspiracy.

Under the country's constitution, an incumbent president is free from being criminally indicted until a single, five-year term ends, but Park is allowed to be investigated for criminal charges.

Calls are rising in the opposition bloc for a compulsory investigation into the embattled president, but the prosecution office said it would be hard to be realized as arrest investigation is made possible under criminal indictment. Enditem