Daughter of Park's friend arrested in Denmark

Seoul

DANISH police have arrested the equestrian competitor daughter of a woman at the centre of a South Korean influence-peddling scandal that has engulfed President Park Geun Hye, police and prosecutors said on Monday.

The scandal led to Ms Park's impeachment by Parliament on Dec 9 and has drawn hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the streets of the capital, Seoul, for weekly demonstrations.

South Korean authorities had been seeking the arrest of Chung Yoo Ra, 20, for her ties to the scandal in which her mother, Choi Soon Sil, is a central figure. Chung had been sought for alleged criminal interference related to her academic record, and other unspecified charges.

Ms Park, 64, could become South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be forced to leave office early. The parliamentary impeachment must be confirmed or overturned by the Constitutional Court, which has months to rule. "We will request an emergency extradition of Chung, working with the special prosecutor's office," Lee Chul Sung, commissioner general of the Korea National Police Agency, told a media briefing in Seoul. The two countries hav…