SEOUL (AFP/BLOOMBERG) - South Korean prosecutors on Saturday (Oct 29) raided the presidential Blue House, as well as the homes and offices of senior advisers to President Park Geun Hye, as she struggled with a corruption and influence-peddling scandal involving a close family friend.

The crisis centred around Ms Park's long-time confidante Choi Soon Sil has rocked her presidency, thanks largely to a lurid back-story involving talk of religious cults, shamanist rituals and corruption.

In Saturday's raids, prosecutors confiscated computers and documents from the homes of a top presidential adviser and two other aides as well as a deputy culture minister, Yonhap news agency said. They also searched some offices in the presidential Blue House complex, Yonhap said.

The investigators searched the offices of two presidential secretaries at 2pm in Seoul and may continue until Sunday, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said in a text message.

It added that the homes of seven current and former government employees were visited in the morning.

It is the first time the Blue House has been searched since prosecutors unsuccessfully tried to enter the presidential complex in 2012 under President Lee Myung Bak over a corruption scandal involving his retirement home.

The move came ahead of a mass protest in Seoul, organised after it emerged that Ms Park had allowed Ms Choi, who has no official post or security clearance, to meddle in affairs of state.

Thousands of people were expected to turn out for the candle-lit demonstration and call on the president, whose popularity ratings have plunged to record lows, to step down.

Ms Choi is being investigated for using her ties to Ms Park to coerce money out of major conglomerates, but the real shock has been revelations that Ms Park had allowed Ms Choi to vet her presidential speeches and apparently advise her on crucial policy choices.

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Ms Park has publicly apologised and late on Friday she told 10 of her senior advisers to tender their resignations ahead of a reshuffle of her presidential office.

Ms Choi, 60, is the daughter of shadowy religious figure Choi Tae Min, who headed a cult-like group and was a long-time mentor to Park up until his death in 1994.

Media reports have portrayed Ms Choi as a Rasputin-like figure with an inappropriate and unhealthy influence over Park that she inherited from her father.

Ms Choi left the country for Germany in early September as reports of her alleged influence-peddling began to emerge.

An early banner displayed at the venue for Saturday's rally read "Choi come back, Park get out".

Ms Choi's lawyer said she was well aware of the "gravity" of the situation and was "willing to return home to be questioned and punished if she did anything wrong".

Prosecutors have taken in two of Ms Choi's close aides for questioning, including one who told reporters that Ms Choi had been behaving as Ms Park's de facto regent.</s>The friend of South Korean President Park Geun-hye at the center of an influence-peddling scandal returned to Seoul on Sunday and apologized for the furor that has seen Park’s offices raided by prosecutors.

Choi Soon-sil came back from Germany and would cooperate with investigators, her lawyer Lee Kyung-jae told reporters in a briefing carried on television. He said Choi had asked for a day to rest before speaking with prosecutors as she was “not in good health and also tired after a long flight.”

“She will fully cooperate with the prosecutors’ investigation and state as it is,” he said, adding Choi “deeply apologizes” for causing upset among the public. Choi has also changed her name to Choi Seo-won, the lawyer said.

Choi left Europe on a flight from London to avoid media camped out in Germany, Lee said.

Invoking a lurid backstory of religious cults, shamanist rituals and corruption, the reports have portrayed Choi as a Rasputin-like figure whose influence extended to vetting presidential speeches and advising on key appointments and policy issues.

“As her attorney, I think the case must be thoroughly investigated and the truth be told to prevent any further eruption of speculation that goes beyond fantasy,” Lee said.

Park had apologized on Tuesday over consulting Choi — who opposition lawmakers have linked to a religious cult — on “some documents” for a period after she took office in 2013. Those comments fanned suspicions that Choi, a private citizen, may have had significant influence over Park throughout her presidency.

The scandal has cast doubt on Park’s future as she heads toward the final year of her single five-year term, and on the ability of her government to focus on economic and other reforms. Her popularity has fallen to an all-time low.

Park late Friday told her 10 chief advisers to resign over the scandal. South Korea’s three biggest political parties will meet Monday to discuss the matter, according to Yonhap News. Some opposition parties said Saturday the resignations of the chief advisers aren’t enough and that Park should also replace the Cabinet.

Prosecutors on Saturday raided Park’s office, with a brief disruption after her team submitted a letter of disapproval, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said. Earlier, it said investigators searched the offices of two presidential secretaries in Seoul. Yonhap news reported that prosecutors had sought to again raid Park’s office Sunday.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Seoul on Saturday night shouting: “Park must step down.” Many of them held candles or placards criticizing Park. Rallies were planned in other major cities.

“We gave her power and she gave it to a friend,” Kim Jung-hyun, a 22-year-old college student, said while distributing leaflets showing Choi controlling Park like a puppet. “Now we want it back.”

In a poll released last week, more than 40 percent of respondents said Park should resign or be impeached.

Still, it’s unlikely that Park’s opponents will push for her to step down because there’s no guarantee they would win an election that would have to be held within 60 days, said Choi Chang-ryul, a political commentator and professor of liberal arts at Yong In University.

“Ideally, she could appoint a politically neutral prime minister and let him choose Cabinet members, while she keeps her grip on security and foreign affairs only,” Choi said.

Saturday’s raid was the first time the Blue House has been searched since prosecutors unsuccessfully tried to enter the presidential complex in 2012 under President Lee Myung-bak over a corruption scandal involving his retirement home.

The offices investigated included those of An Chong-bum, Park’s chief adviser on policy coordination. Opposition lawmakers accuse him of pressuring a business lobby group into donating tens of millions of dollars to foundations controlled by Choi. An denied the allegations at a parliamentary hearing.

Park’s apology came after Cable TV JTBC reported Choi edited some of her speeches, including one made in Germany in 2014 to outline steps toward the eventual unification of the Korean Peninsula. JTBC cited files in a computer it said belonged to Choi.

Choi said in an interview with South Korea’s Segye Ilbo last week she edited Park’s speeches “out of faith” and denied she had owned the computer.

Choi is the daughter of the late Choi Tae-min, who married six times, had multiple pseudonyms and set up his own religious group known as the Church of Eternal Life.

Choi Tae-Min befriended a traumatized Park after the 1974 assassination of her mother, who he said had appeared to him in a dream, asking him to help her daughter.

He became a longtime mentor to Park, who subsequently formed a close bond with Choi Soon-sil that endured after Choi Tae-min’s death in 1994.

Choi Soon-sil was seen in photographs with Park from 1979 when Park, as eldest daughter of then-President Park Chung-hee, was filling in as first lady for her assassinated mother.

Park’s father, who took power in a military coup in 1961, was shot dead by his disgruntled spy chief later in 1979.

Choi was someone “who gave me help when I was going through a difficult time,” Park said in a brief televised address Tuesday.

Choi Soon-sil’s ex-husband also served as a top aide to Park until her presidential election victory in 2012.</s>Telling reporters Monday that she “deserves death,” the woman at the center of a scandal roiling South Korea met prosecutors examining whether she used her close ties to President Park Geun-hye to pull government strings from the shadows and amass an illicit fortune.

“Please, forgive me,” Choi Soon-sil, a cult leader’s daughter with a decades-long connection to Park, said through tears inside the Seoul prosecutor’s building, according to the Yonhap news agency. Using a common expression of deep repentance, she added, “I committed a sin that deserves death.”

Amid massive public resentment over the deepening scandal, the Chosun Ilbo reported Monday that Park’s plan to visit Japan before the end of the year for a three-way summit with her Japanese and Chinese counterparts has now become uncertain and that other major diplomatic events may also be affected.

Some in the administration believe it would be difficult under current circumstances for Park to make her first visit to Japan since taking office in 2013, the major daily said.

Japan’s top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, played down concerns by telling a news conference the same day in Tokyo that the trilateral meeting “is not being affected in any way and we hope to proceed (with the preparations) as planned.”

But the Chosun Ilbo quoted an unnamed South Korean government official as saying that while Tokyo has approached Seoul recently with a proposal to hold the talks around late November to early December, the Park administration has not yet been able to reply if she can attend.

Choi, wearing a hat and a scarf, her hand pressed to her mouth, was nearly knocked off her feet several times as she tried to walk through a massive crowd of 300 journalists, as well as protesters and security, surrounding the Seoul prosecutor’s building entrance. YTN TV station said that Choi, 60, lost her shoe as the throng converged on her, and a protester reportedly tried to enter the building with a bucket full of animal feces.

Other protesters screamed, “Arrest Choi Soon-sil” and “Park Geun-hye should resign.”

The scandal exploded last week when, after weeks of speculation, Park acknowledged that Choi had edited some of her speeches and provided public relations help. Widespread media reports say that Choi, who has no official ties to the administration, may have had a major role in government affairs.

Choi has previously said she helped Park but didn’t know if she was seeing confidential information.

Investigators are trying to determine the scope of access Choi had and whether she was given sensitive presidential documents. They have raided the homes of some officials in the presidential Blue House as part of the investigation.

Park has fired some of her closest aides to try to contain the fallout. Some lawmakers and the public have called for Park’s resignation or impeachment, and thousands of people have protested in the streets.

It’s not clear how much influence Choi had. But many South Koreans believe there is much more to the story than Park has acknowledged, and the frenzy surrounding the scandal threatens her presidency.

Choi returned home Sunday from seclusion in Germany. It was unclear whether there would be any details revealed from her questioning, or how long she would be in the prosecutor’s office. The questioning of Choi’s former associates, including a purported former employee of a host bar, lasted two days.

Choi has been close to Park since Choi’s father, the leader of a religious cult, gained Park’s trust by reportedly convincing her that he could communicate with her assassinated mother. Choi’s father denied this in a 1990 media interview.

The senior government official who later shot and killed Park’s dictator father, President Park Chung-hee, is said to have claimed that he staged his attack in part because Park Chung-hee wouldn’t keep Choi’s father away from the young Park Geun-hye.

Elected in 2012, Park has long been criticized for an aloof manner and for relying on only a few longtime confidantes. Most South Koreans, however, assumed those confidantes were in the government. That she may have been outsourcing decisions to someone outside of government, and someone connected with a murky, lurid backstory, has incensed many.

Media reports said the younger Choi used her connections to Park to pressure businesses to give money to two nonprofit organizations Choi controlled; Choi then allegedly used some of the organizations’ official funds for personal purposes. South Korean media speculated that the two foundations collected about 80 billion won ($70 million) in donations from business groups in just a few months.

The president of Ewha Womans University has resigned amid protests over allegations that Choi used her connections to Park to get her daughter into the elite school and then secure special academic treatment.

Political and business corruption remains widespread in South Korea, which has had full democracy only since the late 1980s, when it shook off decades of military dictatorship. But the current scandal has struck a chord in a way that previous ones have not.

Part of it has to do with Park Geun-hye and her past, which is deeply entwined with South Korea’s recent, tumultuous history. The legacy of her father is still divisive. Supporters see him as saving South Korea from poverty and irrelevance by building up the economy from the rubble of the Korean War. Opponents say that the economic development came at the expense of massive human rights abuse, including the torture and death of dissidents.</s>South Korean protesters are blocked by police officers after a rally calling for President Park Geun-hye to step down in downtown Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday (AP photo)

SEOUL — Thousands of South Koreans took to the streets of the capital on Saturday calling for increasingly unpopular President Park Geun-hye to step down over allegations that she let an old friend, the daughter of a religious cult leader, interfere in important state affairs.

The evening protest came after Park ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign over a scandal that is likely to deepen the president's lame duck status ahead of next year's election.

Holding candles and signs reading "Who's the real president?" and "Park Geun-hye step down," the protesters marched through downtown Seoul after holding a candlelight vigil near City Hall. Police estimated that about 9,000 people turned out for the biggest anti-government demonstration in Seoul in months.

"Park has lost her authority as president and showed she doesn't have the basic qualities to govern a country," Jae-myung Lee, from the opposition Minjoo Party and the mayor of the city of Seongnam, told the protesters from a stage.

Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office and Cabinet after she acknowledged on Tuesday that she provided long-time friend Choi Soon-sil drafts of her speeches for editing. Her televised apology sparked intense criticism about her mismanagement of national information and a heavy-handed leadership style that many see as lacking in transparency.

There is also media speculation that Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions on personnel and policy and exploited her ties with Park to misappropriate funds from nonprofit organisations.

Prosecutors on Saturday widened their investigation by searching the homes of presidential officials suspected of interacting with Choi and receiving their office files from the Blue House — the presidential office and residence. Prosecutors had previously summoned some of Choi's key associates and raided their homes and workplaces, as well as the offices of two nonprofit foundations Choi supposedly controlled.

The saga, triggered by weeks of media reports, has sent Park's approval ratings to record lows, and the minority opposition Justice Party has called for her to resign. The Minjoo Party, a larger opposition party that has refrained from calling for Park's resignation over fears of negatively affecting next year's presidential election, said Park's decision to shake up her secretariat was too little, too late, and called for stronger changes, including the reshuffling of her Cabinet.

Park's aides on the way out include Woo Byung-woo, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, and Ahn Jong-beom, senior secretary for policy coordination. Lee Won-jong, Park's chief of staff, tendered his resignation on Wednesday.

Woo has been blamed for failing to prevent Choi from influencing state affairs and has also been embroiled in separate corruption allegations surrounding his family.

Ahn, whose home was searched by prosecutors on Saturday, is under suspicion that he helped Choi pressure South Korean companies into making large donations to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, launched in October last year and January this year, respectively. Choi reportedly masterminded the creation of the two non-profits, which managed to gather around $70 million in corporate donations over a short period of time, and is suspected of misappropriating some of the funds for personal use.

Park's office said she plans to announce a new lineup of senior secretaries soon.

Choi's lawyer Lee Gyeong-jae said that she was currently in Germany but would return to South Korea if prosecutors summon her. In an interview with a South Korean newspaper earlier in the week, Choi acknowledged receiving presidential documents in advance, but denied intervening in state affairs or pressuring companies into donating to the foundations.

Choi and Park reportedly became friends in the 1970s, when Choi's late father, Choi Tae-min, a shadowy religious figure who was a Buddhist monk, cult leader and Christian pastor at different points of his life, emerged as Park's mentor.

At the time, Park was serving as acting first lady after her mother was killed in 1974 by a man trying to assassinate her father, military strongman Park Chung-hee, who would be murdered by his own spy chief five years later.</s>SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye has ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign amid allegations that she let an old friend, the daughter of a religious cult leader, interfere in important state affairs.

The announcement by Park's office came before thousands were expected to turn out in anti-government protests planned in Seoul on Saturday over the scandal that is likely to deepen the president's lame duck status ahead of next year's elections.

Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office after she admitted on Tuesday that she provided longtime friend Choi Soon-sil drafts of her speeches for editing. Her televised apology sparked huge criticism about her mismanagement of national information and heavy-handed leadership style many see as lacking in transparency.

There's also media speculation that Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions on personnel and policy and exploited her ties with the president to misappropriate funds from nonprofit organizations.

Prosecutors on Saturday widened their investigation by searching the homes and offices of presidential officials suspected of interacting with Choi, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said. Park's office, however, denied that prosecutors searched the Blue House — the presidential office and residence. Prosecutors had previously summoned some of Choi's key associates and raided their homes and workplaces and also the offices of two nonprofit foundations Choi supposedly controlled.

The saga, triggered by weeks of media reports, has sent Park's approval ratings to record lows and the minority opposition Justice Party has called for her to resign. The Minjoo Party, a larger opposition party which has refrained from calling for Park's resignation over fears of negatively affecting next year's presidential vote, said Park's decision to shake up her secretariat was too little and too late and called for stronger changes, including the reshuffling of her Cabinet.

Park's aides on the way out include Woo Byung-woo, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, and Ahn Jong-beom, senior secretary for policy coordination. Lee Won-jong, Park's chief of staff, tendered his resignation on Wednesday.

Woo has been blamed for failing to prevent Choi from influencing state affairs and has also been embroiled in separate corruption allegations surrounding his family.

Ahn, whose home and office were reportedly searched by prosecutors on Saturday, is under suspicion that he helped Choi pressure South Korean companies into making large donations to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, launched in October last year and January this year, respectively. Choi reportedly masterminded the creation of the two nonprofits, which managed to gather around US$70 million in corporate donations over a short period of time, and is suspected of misappropriating some of these funds for personal use.

Park's office said she plans to announce a new lineup of senior secretaries soon.</s>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The woman at the center of a scandal roiling South Korea asked for forgiveness Monday before meeting prosecutors examining whether she used her close ties to President Park Geun-hye to pull government strings from the shadows and amass an illicit fortune.

"Please, forgive me. I'm sorry," Choi Soon-sil, a cult leader's daughter with a decades-long connection to Park, said through tears inside the Seoul prosecutor's building, according to Yonhap news agency. In a common expression of deep repentance, she added: "I committed a sin that deserves death."

Choi, wearing a bucket hat and scarf, her hand pressed to her mouth, was nearly knocked off her feet several times as she tried to walk through a massive crowd of media, protesters and security surrounding the building's entrance. YTN TV station reported that Choi, 60, lost her shoe as the throng converged on her.

The scandal exploded last week when, after weeks of speculation, Park acknowledged that Choi had edited some of her speeches and provided public relations help. Widespread media reports say that Choi, who has no official ties to the administration, may have had a major role in government affairs.

Choi has previously said she helped Park but didn't know if she was seeing confidential information.

Investigators are trying to determine the scope of access Choi had and whether she was given sensitive presidential documents. They have raided the homes of some officials in the presidential Blue House as part of the investigation.

Park has fired some of her closest aides to try to contain the fallout as thousands of people have protested in the streets and some lawmakers and the public have called for her resignation or impeachment.

It's not clear how much influence Choi had. But many South Koreans believe there is much more to the story than Park has acknowledged, and the frenzy surrounding the scandal threatens her presidency.

Choi returned home Sunday from seclusion in Germany. It was unclear if there would be any details revealed from her questioning, or how long Choi would be in the prosecutor's office, but questioning of Choi's former associates, including a purported ex-employee of a host bar, lasted two days.

Choi has been close to Park since Choi's father, the leader of a religious cult, gained Park's trust by reportedly convincing her that he could communicate with her assassinated mother. The senior government official who later murdered Park's dictator father, President Park Chung-hee, is said to have claimed that he staged his attack in part because Park Chung-hee wouldn't keep Choi's father away from the young Park Geun-hye.

Elected in 2012, Park has long been criticized for an aloof manner and for relying on only a few longtime confidantes. Most South Koreans, however, assumed those confidantes were in the government. That she may have been outsourcing decisions to someone outside of government, and someone connected with a murky, lurid backstory, has incensed many.

Media reports said the younger Choi used her connections to Park to pressure businesses to give money to two nonprofit organizations Choi controlled; Choi then allegedly used some of the organizations' official funds for personal purposes. South Korean media speculated that the two foundations collected about 80 billion won ($70 million) in donations from business groups in just a few months.

The president of Ewha Womans University has also resigned amid protests over allegations that Choi used her connections to Park to get her daughter into the elite school and then secure special academic treatment.

Political and business corruption remains widespread in South Korea, which has only had full democracy since the late 1980s, when it shook off decades of military dictatorship. But this scandal has struck a chord in a way that previous ones have not.

Part of it has to do with Park Geun-hye and her past, which is deeply entwined with South Korea's recent, tumultuous history. The legacy of her father is still divisive. Supporters see him as saving South Korea from poverty and irrelevance by building up the economy from the rubble of the Korean War. Opponents say that the economic development came at the expense of massive human rights abuse, including the torture and death of dissidents.

Correspondent Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report from Seoul.</s>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is hoping for answers Monday about its biggest scandal in years.

At the center is Choi Soon-sil, a cult leader’s daughter with a decades-long connection to President Park Geun-hye. Media speculation claims that Choi, who has no official ties to the administration, may have had a major role in government affairs by pulling strings from the shadows while exploiting her relationship with Park for money and favors.

The extent of Choi’s influence isn’t clear yet, and some claims come from unconfirmed media reports. The scandal exploded last week when Park, in a surprise public announcement, acknowledged receiving help from Choi on some of her presidential speeches. She has fired some of her top aides to try to contain the fallout as thousands of people have protested in the streets and some lawmakers and the public have called for her resignation or impeachment.

Still, many South Koreans believe there is much more to the story than Park has acknowledged, and the frenzy surrounding the scandal threatens her presidency.

Choi, 60, returned home Sunday from seclusion in Germany, and is scheduled to be interviewed by prosecutors in the case Monday. It is unclear if there will be any details revealed from their meeting.

Investigators are trying to determine the scope of access Choi had and whether she was given sensitive presidential documents. They have raided the homes of some officials in the presidential Blue House as part of the investigation.

Choi’s attorney, Lee Kyung-jae, told reporters that Choi “apologizes deeply for causing the people humiliation and despair.”

Reports allege that Choi used her links to Park to pressure businesses to contribute millions of dollars to two public foundations and then used the money for herself. The president of Ewha Womans University has also resigned amid protests over allegations that Choi used her connections to Park to get her daughter into the elite school and then secure special academic treatment.

Choi has been close to Park since Choi’s father, the leader of a religious cult, attached himself to Park by reportedly convincing her that he could communicate with her assassinated mother. The man who later murdered Park’s dictator father, President Park Chung-hee, is said to have claimed that he staged his attack in part because Park Chung-hee wouldn’t keep Choi’s father away from the young Park Geun-hye.

South Korea has only had full democracy since the late 1980s, when it shook off decades of military dictatorship. Political and business corruption remains widespread, but this scandal has struck a chord in a way that previous ones have not.

Part of it has to do with Park Geun-hye and her past, which is deeply entwined with South Korea’s recent, tumultuous history. The legacy of her father is still deeply divisive. Supporters see him as saving South Korea from poverty and irrelevance by building up the economy from the rubble of the Korean War. Opponents say that the economic development came at the expense of massive human rights abuse, including the torture and death of dissidents.

Elected in 2012, Park has been accused by critics of governing in an imperial manner, relying only on a few longtime confidantes and limiting her interaction with the press, the public and even parts of the government.

Even so, Park’s close confidantes were assumed by most South Koreans to be in the government. That she may have been outsourcing crucial decisions to someone outside of government, and someone connected with a murky, lurid backstory, has incensed many. Nearly 10,000 people took to the streets in protest over the weekend.

To try to contain public anger, Park has reshuffled her aides, appointing a new senior secretary for civil affairs and new chief secretary for public affairs. She also accepted resignations from several officials in her inner circle; one of those, an aide of Park for nearly two decades, allegedly has links to the scandal.</s>Thousands of South Koreans took to Seoul's streets to demand President Park Geun-hye step down in the wake of allegations that Park let her friend, Choi Soon-Sil, interfere in important state affairs.

A protester wearing a mask of Park Geun-Hye holds a placard saying "Why do you need Halloween fest? We can see all the horror in our lives," during the protest.

A protester wearing a traditional Korean mask holds a placard saying "You Need to Resign Now" during the protest.

Police estimated that around 12,000 demonstrators attended the evening protest, according to the country's semi-official Yonhap news agency.

A protester satirizes President Park's relationship with Choi Soon-Sil, wearing a costume of a shaman during the Saturday night protest.

"The Choi Soon-Sil crisis revealed that President Park Geun-Hye has neither the ability nor capacity to administer the government," protest leader Han Sun-bum said Saturday. "So we've gathered to demand Park resign, and we are going to keep protesting to urge for resignation until Park steps down."

Protesters wearing masks of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and her confidante Choi Soon-Sil perform before a candlelit rally in central Seoul on Saturday.</s>SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Park Geun-hye has ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign amid an investigation that she let an old friend and daughter of a religious cult leader to interfere in important state affairs.

The announcement by Park's office came on the eve of large anti-government protests planned in Seoul on Saturday over the scandal that is likely to deepen the president's lame duck status ahead of next year's elections.

Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office after she admitted on Tuesday that she provided longtime friend Choi Soon-sil drafts of her speeches for editing.

There's also media speculation that Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions and exploited her ties with Park to misappropriate funds from nonprofit organizations.</s>TOKYO — South Korea's president is engulfed in a political scandal with plotlines straight out of a soap opera: rumors of secret advisers, nepotism and ill-gotten gains, plus a whiff of sex. There's even a Korean Rasputin and talk of a mysterious clique called the "eight fairies."

Park Geun-hye, South Korea's first female president and daughter of the military dictator who turned the country into an industrial powerhouse, is facing the biggest challenge of her turbulent tenure.

The essence of the scandal is this: It has emerged that Park, notoriously aloof even to her top aides, has been taking private counsel from Choi Soon-sil, a woman she's known for four decades. Despite having no official position and no security clearance, Choi seems to have advised Park on everything from her wardrobe to speeches about the dream of reunification with North Korea.

Calls for her resignation - and even impeachment - are resonating from across the political spectrum, and her approval ratings have dropped to a record low of 17 percent, according to two polls released Friday.

On Friday, Park directed all of her top advisers to resign en masse, with her spokesman saying a reshuffle would take place, the Yonhap news agency reported. Kim Jae-won, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, told a parliamentary session that Park's chief of staff had already stepped down.

It's not clear, however, whether it will be enough.

"Park Geun-hye's leadership is on the brink of collapse," said Yoo Chang-sun, a left-leaning political analyst. Shin Yool, a right-leaning professor at Myongji University, called it the "biggest crisis" since South Korea was founded 70 years ago. "The president has lost her ability to function as leader."

Choi is the daughter of the late Choi Tae-min, who was a kind of shaman-fortune teller described in a 2007 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul as "a charismatic pastor." Locally, he's seen as a "Korean Rasputin" who once held sway over Park after her mother was assassinated in 1974.

"Rumors are rife that the late pastor had complete control over Park's body and soul during her formative years and that his children accumulated enormous wealth as a result," read the cable, released by WikiLeaks.

But South Korean media have uncovered evidence that, they claim, shows that Choi Soon-sil wielded undue influence over the president.

JTBC, a television network, said it had found a tablet computer that contained files of speeches the president had yet to give, among other documents.The younger Choi is said to have edited the landmark speech that Park gave in Germany in 2014, laying out her vision for unification with the North. The Hankyoreh newspaper wrote that actual presidential aides "were just mice to Choi's cat."

She is also rumored to have created a secret group called "the eight fairies" to advise the president behind the scenes.

TV Chosun, the channel belonging to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, aired a clip showing Choi overseeing the making of an outfit for Park, "raising doubt whether Park made any decision at all without Choi," the paper said.

South Korean media have been full of Photoshopped graphics to illustrate the relationship, including one showing Park as a puppet and Choi Soon-sil pulling her strings.

Meanwhile, investigators are looking into allegations that Choi siphoned off money from two recently established foundations that collected about $70 million from the Federation of Korean Industries, the big business lobby with members including Samsung and Hyundai. Prosecutors raided Choi's home in Seoul this week looking for evidence.

At the same time, there are allegations that the daughter of Choi Soon-sil was given special treatment when she applied for Ewha Womans University, one of South Korea's top colleges.

Local media have reported that her daughter's grades were not good enough, so the rules were changed to give credit to applicants who had won equestrian awards, as she had. The already-embattled president of Ewha resigned this week.

Ironically, this all comes less than a month after Park's administration instituted a wide-ranging new law aimed at cracking down on corruption and influence peddling.

Choi is in Germany with her daughter and is refusing to return to South Korea to answer questions, saying she is having heart problems and cannot fly. But in an interview with the Segye Ilbo, she denied creating the Eight Fairies group, owning the tablet or knowingly receiving classified information. "Because I was not a government official, I had no idea that this was confidential," she told the paper.

Park apologized Tuesday for the scandal, saying she had always acted "with a pure heart." Then she canceled a planned meeting related to North Korea on Friday so she could consider ways to "resolve the nation's anxiety and stably run the government," according to a spokesman.

She did, however, attend a ceremony in the southern city of Busan, where university students shouted "Park Geun-hye should step down!" and "Choi Soon-sil must be arrested!"

South Korea is no stranger to political corruption scandals - almost every president has been tainted by one - but this time feels different to some analysts.

"There's been corruption around the center of power throughout South Korean political history, but they have involved family members or people close to the president, but not the actual president," said Shin of Myongji University.

"I can only think of two ways for Park Geun-hye to get out of this situation: She can propose a grand-coalition government or promise to step down after a constitutional amendment [allowing her to cede power] is passed," he said.

Park's five-year term runs until the end of next year.

The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's largest newspaper and an influential conservative voice, was similarly damning.

"This is no ordinary lame-duck phenomenon. This is a complete collapse of a president's ability to run a government," it said in an editorial this week, calling on her to dissolve her government secretariat and appoint a caretaker prime minister.

"The only way open to her is to pull out of government and put the public good first," it wrote. "Many people are ashamed for her. It is time she was, too."
South Korean prosecutors raid the presidential Blue House in Seoul amid continuing fallout over President Park Geun-hye's influence-peddling scandal involving cult leader Choi Soon-sil.