As the investigation into scandal gripping Korea expands,... prosecutors are set to grill business leaders known to have held private one-on-one discussions with President Park Geun-hye.
Keeping us up to speed on the ongoing probe,... Kim Hyesung reports.
Prosecutors are planning to question seven leaders of the nation's major conglomerates who held closed door talks with President Park Geun-hye last July.
Prosecutors said Thursday that the details of the conversations they had at the meetings, held between July 24th and 25th last year, will be crucial in determining whether the president is involved in fundraising for two government-linked foundations controlled by her confidante Choi Soon-sil.
The seven CEOs include Samsung's Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motors' Chung Mong-koo and LG Group's Koo Bon-moo.
On July 24th, 2015, President Park held a meeting with seventeen CEOs at the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae, and said she would like the companies to help support an organization that would help disseminate Korean culture.
The president is known to have held closed door talks with some of the CEOs that afternoon and on the next day, and prosecutors are seeking to determine whether she pressured them to donate to the foundations.
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"To get to the bottom of the Choi Soon-sil scandal and meet the public's demands, prosecutors need to thoroughly examine how Korean conglomerates were involved in this business-government collusion, so questioning the CEOs is crucial."
Fifty three companies are known to have donated 70 million U.S. dollars to the two foundations -- Mir and K-Sports -- and Choi is suspected of using her close ties to the president to force them to contribute money.
Prosecutors have already questioned executives from Samsung, Hyundai Motors, SK Group over the past several days,... as well as several others,... as to whether the they were pressured into making donations... and by whom.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.
