President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday called off a plan to undergo face-to-face questioning, saying the special counsel team betrayed trust by leaking the schedule of the session to the media.

The abrupt cancellation came after multiple local media outlets reported Park, impeached for corruption and currently standing trial at the Constitutional Court, was to face investigators Thursday, becoming the first sitting president to be interrogated.  

“The interview schedule of President Park should have remained confidential (until the formal announcement by both parties),” an anonymous aide to Park told the media.
The aide added that the planned interview is “unlikely” to proceed under the current situation. 

The special counsel team investigating Park’s scandal has been pushing to meet Park to ask about her role in the scandal. 

Lee Kyu-chul, the spokesman for the independent counsel, told The Korea Herald that the team had not leaked the schedule. 

He said in a press briefing Tuesday that the team was in talks with the presidential office to fine-tune details of the questioning session, which he said was “a necessary step for the investigation to proceed.” He then refused to disclose the exact schedule. 

Observers said the Blue House’s angry reaction to the media reports is likely to be a tactic for Park to avoid questioning altogether, or rather delay it to a later date. 

The special counsel has only until the end of February to wrap up its investigation of Park’s charges. An extension of 30 days is possible, but would require the approval of acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, the prime minister who was appointed by President Park. 

Investigators suspect that Park may have been directly involved in many of the alleged irregularities, colluding with her friend Choi Soon-sil to extort money and business favors from local businesses. 

It also alleges Park may have been behind the creation of a blacklist of dissident artists and her administration’s systemic discrimination against them in state support. 

The probe team Tuesday indicted former chief of staff Kim Ki-choon and former Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun over their role in the blacklist. 

Park was named an accomplice in their arraignment, but she cannot be indicted under the law which gives her criminal immunity as president.

President Park is currently stripped of her presidential powers while the Constitutional Court reviews whether to end her presidency.

By Bak Se-hwan (sh@heraldcorp.com)