[Yonhap News Photo]
South Korea's disgraced President Park Geun-hye is set to make a speech Friday after her long-time friend and personal adviser was formally arrested on charges of attempted fraud and abuse of authority.
The address comes 10 days after Park apologized for leaking her classified speeches to Choi Soon-sil at the heart of a corruption scandal that sparked widespread public anger and calls for the president's resignation.
The scandal has seriously damaged Park's image and authority, prompting the president to put key state affairs on the back burner. Choi, 60, was accused of meddling in state affairs and embezzling money from two public foundations, Mir and K-Sports, created with 77.4 billion won (68 million US dollars) donated by dozens of conglomerates
Ahn Jong-Beom, one of the president's close aides who stepped down Sunday, has been arrested for his alleged role in collecting money from conglomerates.
The investigation focuses on whether Ahn used his position and influence to support Choi's scam and irregularities.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
