SEOUL, (MILLAT/APP/AFP) – Ousted South Korean
leader Park Geun-Hye returned home Wednesday after a marathon interrogation by prosecutors over the corruption and influence-peddling scandal that brought her down.
Park — the first South Korean president removed from power by impeachment — spent more than 21 hours in the prosecutors’ office in Seoul from Tuesday morning.
TV footage showed the 65-year-old leaving the building Wednesday morning.
A broadly-smiling Park nodded at hundreds of flag-waving supporters who
gathered near her home in southern Seoul and entering the house without
answering questions from reporters.
The South’s first female president was officially removed from office on March 10 when the Constitutional Court confirmed her impeachment by parliament last December.
While she enjoyed the protection of presidential executive privilege, Park rejected a series of requests by prosecutors to be interviewed.
Questions by prosecutors are a key step in South Korea’s judicial process before a suspect is charged. Prosecutors are currently reviewing whether to press charges or seek Park’s arrest — although she would not have to be detained before being formally accused.
Park faces multiple charges ranging from abuse of power and coercion to bribery and has been named as an accomplice of her secret confidante at the heart of the scandal.