S Korea president 'colluded with aide in graft scandal'

South Korean prosecutors yesterday said that President Park Geun-Hye colluded with her close confidante in a corruption and influence-peddling scandal that has sparked massive nationwide protests and calls for her impeachment.

Park's longtime friend Choi Soon-Sil was charged with coercion and abuse of power yesterday, as was one of the president's former aides.

Another presidential aide was charged with leaking confidential state documents.

"The president played a collusive role in a considerable portion of the criminal activities involving the (three) people," said Lee Young-Ryeol, a Seoul prosecutor who is leading a probe into the scandal.

Choi, 60, has been accused of using her personal ties to Park to meddle in state affairs and of coercing local firms to "donate" more than $60 million to dubious non-profit foundations. She allegedly then used some of the funds for personal gain.

Park faces allegations that she helped Choi extract money from the firms and that she ordered her aides to leak state documents to Choi, who has no official title or security clearance.

Under the constitution a sitting president cannot be charged with a criminal offence except insurrection or treason. But she can still be probed by prosecutors and possibly charged after leaving office.

Lee acknowledged that prosecutors could not formally charge Park at present but vowed to continue to investigate her.

Prosecutors had previously described the conservative leader as a witness to Choi's crimes but changed her status to that of a criminal suspect, said a senior prosecutor at the investigative team.

Park's spokesman Jung Youn-Kuk angrily rejected the prosecutors' accusations, describing them as "unfair political attacks" based on "imagination and guesswork".

The latest revelations piled pressure on opposition party lawmakers to seek the impeachment of Park, the daughter of a former president, who has about a year left in her five-year term.