SEOUL — Park Geun-hye, the now-former president of South Korea who this month was removed from office in a historic court ruling, was questioned at a prosecutors’ office Tuesday in connection with allegations of bribery, extortion, and abuse of office.
After the grueling, 14-hour interrogation of Park, which ended just before midnight, prosecutors will decide whether they have enough evidence to ask a court to issue a warrant for her arrest.
If she is indicted, she will be the first former South Korean president to face trial since two former military dictators were imprisoned on corruption and mutiny charges in the mid-1990s.
“I am sorry to trouble the people,’’ Park told reporters gathered at the entrance of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. “I will respond faithfully to the investigation.’’
Park, who was accompanied by lawyers, is the first former South Korean president to be questioned by prosecutors since 2009, when former President Roh Moo-hyun testified about corruption allegations involving his family.
Park’s 10-minute motorcade ride from her home in southern Seoul to the prosecutors’ office was nationally broadcast.
As the motorcade pulled out of her home, hundreds of people lined the alley leading to the two-story red brick house waving South Korean flags and shouting her name. “We love you!’’ some yelled as her black sedan passed.
The police formed a cordon to prevent the protesters from spilling onto the road.
Park faces allegations that she conspired with a longtime confidante named Choi Soon-sil to collect tens of millions of dollars from big businesses, including more than $38 million in bribes from Samsung.
Both Choi and Samsung executive Lee Jae-yong have been arrested and indicted on bribery and a host of other criminal charges.
When they indicted Choi and Lee, prosecutors identified Park as a criminal accomplice.
On Dec. 9, the National Assembly overwhelmingly voted to impeach Park on charges of corruption and abuse of power. Her presidency was suspended upon the vote. On March 10, the Constitutional Court formally removed her from office by unanimously upholding the parliamentary impeachment.
Park was the first South Korean leader to be forced out of office in response to popular pressure since the country’s founding president, Syngman Rhee, fled into exile in Hawaii in 1960 after protests against his corrupt, authoritarian rule.
Since she took office in early 2013, Park had been dogged by allegations that Choi was influencing government affairs from the shadows — and using her connections with the president for personal gain.
Those long-suppressed allegations began shaking her government last fall, when a deluge of what prosecutors considered incriminating evidence began spilling out through local media and disgruntled former associates of Choi.
