IT WAS her reputation for integrity that helped bring Park Geun-hye to power. Unmarried, childless and estranged from her siblings, Ms Park said shortly before she was elected president in 2012 that the South Korean people were her family: not for her the household corruption scandals that had dogged every previous president.
Yet four years on Ms Park’s image is in tatters. And it is a friendship that she formed as a result of her “lonely life”, as she put it, in the presidential Blue House that looks set to be her undoing. Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of Ms Park, was indicted on November 20th on charges of attempted fraud and abuse of power, and will face trial this month. Prosecutors say she used her connections to coerce 50-odd conglomerates to funnel 80bn won ($70m) to two cultural foundations, K-Sports and Mir, that she controlled.
The prosecutors have accused Ms Park of ordering aides to assist Ms Choi in the alleged shakedowns. One aide, Ahn Chong-bum, has been indicted for abuse of power and coercion; another, Chung Ho-sung, for divulging state secrets. In documents regarding the arraignment of Cha Eun-taek, a pop-video...Continue reading
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