South Korea's deeply unpopular president Park Geun-hye says she's willing to resign on Tuesday. Her announcement comes amid mounting public calls to quit. Graham Mackay reports </s> SEOUL: South Korea's ousted President Park Geun-hye was arrested on Friday (Mar 31) over the corruption and abuse of power scandal that brought her down, a court spokesman said.

The Seoul Central District Court issued a warrant to arrest Park on charges of bribery, abuse of authority, coercion, and leaking government secrets, after a marathon court hearing the previous day. </s> SEOUL, South Korea — President Park Geun-hye of South Korea said Tuesday that she was willing to resign before her term ends, in an effort to head off a pending impeachment vote over a devastating corruption scandal.

“I am giving up everything now,” she said in a dramatic, five-minute televised address, offering her third public apology for the scandal that has paralyzed her government for weeks. It was the first time South Koreans had heard from their cloistered leader since a previous televised public apology on Nov. 4.

But opposition lawmakers immediately rejected the offer, calling it a ploy meant to divide her political opponents and allow Ms. Park to survive in office, and they vowed to proceed with impeachment efforts. But their plan to call for an impeachment vote on Friday has been cast into doubt.

Members of Ms. Park’s party who had supported impeachment have now suggested that the vote be delayed until Dec. 9, to give rival parties time to negotiate a date for Ms. Park’s resignation instead. The opposition needs the support of those governing party lawmakers to pass an impeachment bill. </s> South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Tuesday she would accept the result of an impeachment vote against her this week but indicated she would not step down now as demanded by opposition parties, a top official of her Saenuri Party said.

She also said she had been willing to accept her party's proposal for her to step down in April next year, Saenuri Party official Chung Jin-suk said, after a meeting between party leaders and the embattled president.

Park faces a pivotal week, with an effort to impeach her gaining support from within her party. </s> SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Park Geun-hye has ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign amid an investigation that she let an old friend and daughter of a religious cult leader to interfere in important state affairs.

The announcement by Park's office came on the eve of large anti-government protests planned in Seoul on Saturday over the scandal that is likely to deepen the president's lame duck status ahead of next year's elections.

Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office after she admitted on Tuesday that she provided longtime friend Choi Soon-sil drafts of her speeches for editing.

There's also media speculation that Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions and exploited her ties with Park to misappropriate funds from nonprofit organizations. </s> Ousted South Korean president Park Geun-Hye was arrested in the early hours of Friday, on charges of bribery, abuse of authority, coercion, and leaking government secrets. After a long hearing on Thursday, a court had said, “It is justifiable and necessary to arrest (Park) as key charges were justified and there is risk of evidence being destroyed.”

She was taken to a detention centre near Seoul, AFP reported.

A spokesperson for the Democratic Party’s leading presidential contender Moon Jae-in praised the arrest, calling it the first step to rebuilding a collapsed nation, The Korean Herald reported. Park’s own party, the Liberty Korea Party, however, said her arrest was “truly regrettable”. In a statement, they hoped that such a “painful history” won’t repeat itself.

Park is the first democratically elected leader to be ousted from office in South Korea. On December 9, the South Korean Parliament had impeached her.

The former president was accused of colluding with Choi Soon-sil, a long-time friend and confidante, to extort money in the form of donations from South Korean companies. The money, which was transferred to non-profit foundations controlled by Choi, was allegedly used for personal gains.

Park had also been accused of ordering her aides to leak official state documents to Choi, who has no official position in the South Korean government. There had been large scale protests demanding her removal as president. </s> SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Park Geun-hye is willing to "calmly" accept the outcome if the opposition-controlled parliament votes for her impeachment this week, but prefers to resign on her own terms, lawmakers from her party said Tuesday.

Chung Jin Suk, floor leader of the conservative ruling party, said after an hour-long meeting with Park that she was willing to accept a now-withdrawn proposal by the party for her to voluntarily step down in April to set up a presidential election in June. If lawmakers vote to impeach her, Park said she would make "every available effort" to prepare for a court process that would determine whether she would be formally removed, according to Chung.

The party's chairman, Lee Jung Hyun, who also attended the meeting, said it seemed that Park was hoping lawmakers would accept her resignation rather than push ahead with an attempt to impeach her.

Park has been accused by state prosecutors of helping a close confidante extort money and favors from large companies and manipulate state affairs.

On Saturday, opposition lawmakers registered an impeachment bill for Park to set up a floor vote that could take place as early as Friday. If the bill goes through, Park would be suspended as president but not yet removed. Her duties would be temporarily transferred to the prime minister while the country's Constitutional Court reviews whether her impeachment could be constitutionally justified.

Following a conditional offer by Park to leave office last week, a group of anti-Park lawmakers in the ruling party called for her to announce by this Wednesday that she will step down voluntarily in April. However, they changed their stance after millions of people rallied across the country over the weekend calling for Park's removal. The ruling party lawmakers said Monday that about 35-40 of them will vote on Friday to impeach Park regardless of whether she promises to quit.

Park said she was ready to "calmly move ahead for the state and the people and to see what happens with the Constitutional Court" if lawmakers vote to impeach her, Chung said.

"We explained that the party's stance that had called for an April resignation and June presidential election has become realistically hard to maintain," Chung said.

She said she told Park that the party's lawmakers will vote by "their conscience and free will" on Friday.

The impeachment bill needs the support of at least 200 lawmakers from the 300-seat parliament to pass. If it passes, the Constitutional Court would be required to rule within 180 days. If six of the court's nine justices support the impeachment, Park will be officially removed from office. The country then has to hold a presidential election within 60 days. </s> South Korean President Park Geun-hye speaks last year during a visit to the Pentagon. The embattled leader says she will resign if parliament comes up with a plan for the safe transfer of power.

SEOUL, South Korea — President Park Geun-hye offered Tuesday to resign but put the onus on the parliament to decide how in a surprise announcement amid growing calls for her to step down or face impeachment over an influence-peddling and corruption scandal.

The main opposition Democratic Party called the speech, which was broadcast live and lasted about five minutes, a ploy to avoid an impeachment drive that has been gaining momentum.

It was her third public address since accusations surfaced last month that she allowed longtime friend Choi Soon-sil to wield undue influence over government policies and allegedly commit fraud. She would be the first leader to resign since 1960, when South Korea’s founding president, Syngman Rhee, was forced to flee to Hawaii during a popular uprising.

“I will delegate the matters about my fate, including the shortening of my presidential term, to the National Assembly,” Park said.

“If the ruling and opposition parties discuss and come up with a plan to reduce the confusion in state affairs and ensure a safe transfer of governments, I will resign from the presidential position under that schedule and by processes stated in law,” she added.

Park’s refusal so far to step down and the widening probe into Choi’s activities have fueled public anger and provoked mass protests for five weekends in a row. Her approval rating has fallen to 4 percent, according to a weekly survey released Friday by Gallup Korea.

Park, who has 15 months left in her five-year term in office, again apologized for the disruption but denied she sought personal gain. Prosecutors have accused her of being a co-conspirator in the scandal. The constitution provides the president with immunity from prosecution except in cases of treason or insurrection, although she can be investigated.

Democratic Party lawmakers called the speech an effort to distract them from the impeachment drive.

“The speech lacked self-reflection and repentance,” party spokesman Rep. Youn Kwan-suk was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency. “What people want is her immediate resignation, not dragging out and dodging the responsibility to the parliament.”

Opposition parties have scheduled an impeachment motion for Friday and were expected to nominate a special prosecutor to independently investigate the scandal. Even some members of Park’s ruling Saenuri Party have called for her to step down, signaling the opposition may be able to get the 200 votes needed to impeach her.

Choi, the 60-year-old daughter of a late cult leader, has been formally indicted on charges related to suspicions that she used her presidential ties to persuade dozens of companies, including Samsung and Hyundai, to donate more than $65 million to two nonprofit foundations she controlled.

Prosecutors said last week that Park colluded with Choi and two former key aides in “considerable parts” of the alleged criminal acts. Park’s lawyer, Yoo Yeong-ha, has called the accusations groundless.

Park admitted again to carelessness in her ties with Choi, whom she has said helped her through difficult times. The president is the daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee, who was assassinated in 1979, five years after her mother was killed in another attempt on his life.

“I did what I did thinking that was the best for the nation, but that cannot excuse me for the failing to manage the people around me,” she said Tuesday.

At least 200 members of the 300-strong National Assembly need to support an impeachment effort, which would likely require the support of 28 Saenuri Party members.

However, even if that occurs, the decision would have to be ratified by the Constitutional Court, which would likely be a drawn-out process.

The crisis comes at a dangerous time for South Korea as it faces a growing threat from North Korea, which has conducted two nuclear tests and several missile launches this year.

The U.N. Security Council was expected to impose tougher sanctions on Pyongyang in a vote Wednesday in New York, although previous rounds have failed to stop the communist country’s weapons programs. Diplomats have said the new sanctions target North Korea’s hard-currency revenues by placing a “hard, binding cap” on coal experts, The Associated Press reported.

The U.S. has about 28,500 servicemembers stationed in South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North after the 1950-53 Korea War ended in an armistice instead of a truce. </s> SEOUL — South Korean President Park Geun-hye faced mounting pressure to step down on Saturday as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched in the capital to protest allegations that she let a friend meddle in state affairs.

Saturday's rally in downtown Seoul was the largest so far in a crisis engulfing Park, 64, and organisers said some 850,000 people packed streets running through the city centre including a 12-lane thoroughfare. Police estimated the crowd at 260,000.

Students, families including young couples pushing strollers and protesters in wheelchairs were among the crowd during the peaceful march, which contrasted with the violence of some previous rallies dominated by militant unions and civic groups that clashed with police.

One man travelled seven hours from the southern town of Gimhae to join the rally demanding Park step down a year before her mandate is due to end.

"Park Geun-hye! Today! Step down! Immediately! Step down! Now!" protesters chanted a few hundred metres from the presidential Blue House.

"I'm here so that this country will be a better place for my daughters," said Park Min-hee, 34, a housewife who was at the rally with her two young daughters and her husband's parents. "Park Geun-hye did wrong. She must step down right now."

It was the third weekend protest rally since Park's first public apology on October 25 when she admitted she had sought the advice of her friend, Choi Soon-sil.

Park's acknowledgement only served to fuel public anger and suspicion over the secret confidant, who apparently held no official government position.

Another apology by Park and an offer to work with the parliamentary opposition to form a new Cabinet and relinquish some power also failed to quell the crisis, prompting opponents to say she did not grasp its severity.

Park has dismissed some of her most senior and closest advisers, and former aides have been arrested on charges of abuse of power. Choi, the friend who is believed to have been acquainted with the president since the 1970s, has been charged with abuse of power and fraud.

Members of main opposition parties joined Saturday's rally, suggesting there is growing support in parliament for action to remove her from power, although there was no formal move yet to launch impeachment proceedings.

No South Korean president has ever failed to finish their five-year term.

Park's approval rating has dropped to 5 per cent for a second week, according to a poll conducted by Gallup Korea and released on Friday, the lowest number for a South Korean president since such polling began under democratically elected leaders in 1988.

Gallup Korea, based in Seoul, is not affiliated with US-based Gallup, Inc., the American firm said.

Park is the daughter of Park Chung-hee who took power in a 1961 military coup and ruled until he was assassinated by his disgruntled spy chief in 1979, five years after his wife was shot dead in the head by a killer who meant to shoot him.
Park Geun-hye says she is willing to resign and offers to begin the process of removing herself from power.