Man: 'I came here to help her die'

Police detained a man who rammed a large excavator into a gate on Tuesday near the office where prosecutors questioned a woman at the center of a political scandal. The woman had earlier said she "deserves death" and the detained man said he "came here to help her die".

The attack with heavy construction equipment on a government building is part of a frenzy of emotion in the Republic of Korea over Choi Soon-sil, whom prosecutors have detained as they examine whether she used her close ties to President Park Geun-hye to pull government strings from the shadows and amass an illicit fortune.

Choi was swarmed on Monday by hundreds of protesters as she tried to enter the prosecution office. She was nearly knocked off her feet several times as the crowd closed in on her. One angry person reportedly tried to enter the building with a bucket full of animal feces and Choi lost her Prada shoe in the scrum.