South Korean President offers to step down

South Korean President, Park Geun-hye, has offered to resign and called on Parliament to arrange her exit amid a corruption and cronyism scandal that has all but destroyed her administration.

Park faced growing calls to resign amid an investigation into whether she allowed a long-time friend to influence political decisions for personal gain.

She said she would “leave to parliament everything about my future including shortening of my term”, but did not want to leave a power vacuum.

Parliament was due to discuss on Friday whether she should face impeachment.

Opposition parties have said the President should stand down “honourably” before it reached that point.

Park has apologised twice before, and has said she is “heartbroken” by the political crisis around her, but has refused to stand down.

In today’s televised address, her third since reports of the scandal began, Park said she would step down “once lawmakers come up with measures to transfer power in a way that minimises any power vacuum and chaos in governance”.

The scandal stems from the President’s relationship with her close friend, Choi Soon-sil.

Choi is accused of trying to extort huge sums of money from South Korean companies. She is also suspected of using her friendship with Park to solicit business donations for a non-profit fund she controlled.

She is currently in police detention, facing a string of charges.

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