South Korean prosecutors call in SK Group officials for questioning

[SEOUL] Prosecutors said they will call in three officials from South Korea's third-largest conglomerate, SK Group, for questioning on Thursday as part of a widening corruption scandal that brought down former President Park Geun-Hye.

The three officials to be questioned from 10am (0100 GMT) include Kim Chang-Geun, the former chairman of the semiconductor-to-telecom group's top decision-making committee, an SK Group spokesman confirmed.

"We will actively straighten out suspicions that are different from facts," the spokesman said.

The questioning is part of the prosecution's investigation into the influence-peddling scandal that brought down Ms Park and has engulfed South Korea's business and political elites. Ms Park, who has denied any wrongdoing, will be summoned for questioning next Tuesday.

Mr Kim had a private meeting with Ms Park in July 2015, around when Ms Park was holding a series of meetings with heads of conglomerates, the Yonhap news agency reported earlier on Thursday.

SK Group controls companies such as the world's second biggest memory-chip maker, SK Hynix Inc, and South Korea's biggest telecoms company, SK Telecom.

REUTERS