Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Monday rejected special prosecutors' request for cooperation with its plan to raid the presidential office to gather evidence on a corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her friend.

Regarding the request made Friday after investigators' botched attempt to ransack the presidential compound Cheong Wa Dae, an aide to Hwang said that it is not a decision for the acting president to make.

"Our position that the decision related to the search must be made by the presidential office and not by the acting president remains unchanged," the aide told Yonhap News Agency over the phone, asking not to be named.

"The legal judgment over whether the raid is possible must be made by the chiefs of the facilities in question -- the presidential chief of staff and the presidential security office,"
he added.

Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn (Yonhap)