Park branded as criminal suspect

SEOUL - Special prosecutors of the Republic of Korea on Tuesday branded impeached President Park Geun-hye as a criminal suspect for bribery charge in collusions with her friend Choi Soon-sil, who is at the center of the corruption scandal.

The prosecutors, who have been independently dedicated to investigations into the scandal for the past 70 days, also planned to indict Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong and four Samsung executives later in the day on multiple charges, including bribery.

Lee Kyu-chul, spokesman of the independent counsel team that kicked off investigations on Dec 21, told the last regular news conference that Choi will be indicted on bribery as well as charges of abuse of power and the concealment of illegal wealth earned through criminal acts.