UPDATE - Key officials raided in s korean scandal probe

UPDATES THROUGHOUT

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL (AA) - South Korean Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun and former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon had their homes raided Monday, amid a widening investigation into corruption claims surrounding impeached President Park Geun-hye and several aides.

The searches took place less than a week after an independent probe officially began following a weeks-long investigation by state prosecutors, who named Park as a suspect in an alleged scam to force conglomerates to make donations in return for favors.

That the country’s biggest corporations gave money to nonprofit foundations linked to Park’s detained close confidante Choi Soon-sil is not in doubt -- rather, investigators are seeking to establish if those companies were coerced or received special benefits.

Samsung Group is particularly under scrutiny given that it led the list of donators with more than 20 billion won ($17 million) to the foundations named Mir and K-Sports.

The probe team called in an official from the National Pension Service Monday to examine why the public pension fund backed a contentious merger between Samsung affiliates last year.

Monday’s raids focused on “around 10 places” according to local news agency Yonhap, including the offices of the culture ministry -- which also oversees sports and tourism.

As for Kim Ki-choon, chief aide to Park between 2013 and 2015, he denied even knowing about Choi Soon-sil when appearing at a parliamentary questioning session at the National Assembly earlier this month -- regardless of her apparently close ties to the president.

Kim later admitted that he may have known Choi, who is accused of secretly steering state affairs despite being a private citizen, embezzling funds via Mir and K-Sports and securing preferential treatment as well as Samsung backing for her equestrian athlete daughter.

Meanwhile, lawmakers were finally able to quiz Choi at a detention center after she previously refused to show up for questioning at the Assembly.

“She said she is sorry for causing confusion in the country but declined to specifically comment on what she did wrong,” Kim Han-jung of the Democratic Party revealed.

Choi is currently going through her own prosecution process, but Assembly representatives are pushing for further clues as they battle against Park in the Constitutional Court -- which has a six-month period to decide whether to confirm her parliamentary impeachment.