South Korea’s prosecution on Thursday summoned Chung Yoo-ra again for questioning. Chung is the daughter of Choi Soon-sil who is at the center of a political corruption scandal that led to the impeachment and arrest of former President Park Geun-hye
At 9 a.m., the 21-year-old was escorted to the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office. She was arrested on her way back to South Korea a day earlier, following her extradition from Denmark.
Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of former President Park Geun-hye's close associate, is brought to the prosecution in Seoul on June 1, 2017, for the second day of questioning on various allegations ranging from illegal university admission to foreign exchange law breaches. (Yonhap)
Prosecutors have until 4 a.m. on Friday to hold Chung at a detention center in Seoul where her mother is being held. It plans to ask the court to issue a warrant. With the court-issued writ, the prosecution can hold her for up to 20 days before filing charges over her alleged wrongdoings.
The former national dressage team member is accused of receiving unfair treatment in entering Ewha Womans University and receiving dubious funding for equestrian training from Samsung Group.
The 21-year-old is suspected of being illegally admitted to Ewha Womans University in Seoul in 2015 despite inadequate qualifications. The school’s former President Choi Kyung-hee is now on trial over her alleged role in the special favor granted to Chung.
Prosecutors believe Choi, a longtime confidante of Park, was behind the illegal enrollment. After entering the school, Chung was also given good grades despite not attending classes, according to an inquiry conducted by the Education Ministry earlier.
Choi is also charged with colluding with Park to take tens of millions of dollars from Samsung Group in return for the government’s support of a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015.
Part of the money was used to fund Chung’s equestrian training in Germany.
On Wednesday, an independent counsel’s probe team that looked into the scandal demanded the court for a seven-year prison term for Choi in connection to the admissions fraud for the sake of Chung.
Park, who was removed from office on March 10, is on her own trial following last month’s indictment over bribery, extortion, abuse of power and other corruption charges in collusion with Choi, which could potentially send her to jail for life if confirmed.
By Bak Se-hwan (
sh@heraldcorp.com)
