UPDATE - Impeached SKorean president faces media

UPDATES THROUGHOUT

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL (AA) - South Korean President Park Geun-hye has blamed her ongoing scandal on misleading media coverage, as she publicly discussed her impeachment for the first time Sunday.

Speaking at a meeting with reporters at the presidential office, Park addressed power abuse allegations that have fueled demands for her resignation -- hundreds of thousands of protesters crowded in Seoul Saturday night for a 10th successive weekend of mass rallies.

After it was left to acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn to deliver the country’s New Year’s address, Park’s meeting revealed the suspended leader’s frustrations.

“Rumors, stories and broadcasts have been distorted, and false information has been getting out of hand,” she was quoted as saying by local news agency Yonhap. “Misunderstandings have begotten misunderstandings, and erroneous reports led to the reproduction of other erroneous reports... I feel heavy-hearted.”

The scandal erupted in October when multiple claims burst forth concerning Park’s unvetted secret confidante Choi Soon-sil, now in detention and facing her own trial.

While most official presidential aides have distanced themselves from Choi, reports allege that she had positioned herself as the real power behind Park’s “throne” -- moreover, the pair are accused of forcing conglomerates to donate millions of dollars in return for favors.

New suspicions have arisen on a daily basis, from the privileges enjoyed by Choi’s daughter to Park’s whereabouts and actions on the day of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster.

Park vowed to “conscientiously” respond to an independent investigation, insisting that she “never ordered anyone to give help here and there” -- but her lawyers recently tried to block the probe’s evidence from being used in the Constitutional Court’s impeachment trial, which will in the coming months either confirm or overturn last month’s parliamentary move to oust the president.

She also maintained that she had led South Korea based on her own “philosophy and conviction.”

As for the question of seven supposedly missing hours in Park’s schedule as the Sewol sank -- at the cost of more than 300 lives -- she was adamant that she did whatever she could to fulfill her duties, contrary to an array of claims otherwise.

“First it was reported that I was having an affair with someone, and then I was engaged in an exorcism ritual. Then it was about me undergoing cosmetic surgery. It was utterly, utterly senseless,” Park said according to The Korea Times.