Lawyers for ousted S Korean leader deny charges

Seoul: Lawyers for ousted South Korean President Park Geun-Hye denied all the charges against her at a hearing on Tuesday before she goes on trial. Park, 65, was sacked by the country’s top court in March over a wide-ranging corruption scandal and has been held in custody for more than a month.

She faces 18 criminal counts — five of bribery and 11 of abuse of power, plus one each of coercion and leaking government secrets.

“We deny all the charges,” Park’s top lawyer Yoo Young-Ha told the Seoul Central District Court. Park’s attendance at the hearing was not mandatory and she stayed away from the court.

In South Korea, a preliminary hearing is to review the charges brought against a suspect and determine future proceedings.

Yoo said the defence had been overwhelmed by the prosecution’s 120,000 pages of investigation records and needed more time to go over them.

The court decided to hold another session next week and open full proceedings a week later. (AFP)