Woman at center of crisis says she 'deserves death'

Investigators have raided homes of some officials in the presidential Blue House as part of probe

Telling reporters on Monday that she "deserves death", the woman at the center of a scandal roiling South Korea met prosecutors examining whether she used her close ties to President Park Geun-hye to pull government strings from the shadows and amass an illicit fortune.

"Please, forgive me," Choi Soon-sil, a cult leader's daughter with a decades-long connection to Park, said through tears inside the Seoul prosecutor's building, according to Yonhap news agency. Using a common expression of deep repentance, she added, "I committed a sin that deserves death".