Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

KOREA

Denmark extends S.Korea ‘Rasputin’ daughter’s detention

A Danish court on Wednesday extended the detention of the daughter of Choi Soon-Sil, the woman at the centre of a corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea's president,for another month.

Published: 23 February 2017 10:30 CET

Denmark extends S.Korea 'Rasputin' daughter's detention

Chung has reportedly bought horses and trained in Denmark in the past. Photo: Kim Hong-Ji/Scanpix

Chung Yoo-Ra, the 20-year-old daughter of the woman dubbed South Korea's “Rasputin”, is one of the figures in the influence-peddling scandal that sparked massive street protests demanding the removal of President Park Geun-Hye.

Chung was detained in Denmark on January 1 for overstaying her visa, after South Korean authorities issued a warrant for her arrest. Seoul then sought her extradition.

The Danish Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has said it needs more time to complete its processing of the case, and was waiting for the South Korean authorities to answer some questions.

“The detention has been extended until March 22,” a court spokeswoman told AFP. Chung has denied any wrongdoing.

The equestrian, who has reportedly bought horses and trained in Denmark in the past, has told police that she was in the country because of her involvement in the sport.

Chung's mother, a confidante of Park, is accused of using her influence to secure her daughter's admission to an elite Seoul university, with a state probe revealing the school had admitted Chung at the expense of other candidates with better qualifications.

The revelation touched a raw nerve in education-obsessed South Korea.

Several professors at Ewha Women's University, including a former school president, have been investigated for allegedly giving Chung preferential treatment.

Merkel broaches shared past on Japan visit

Merkel greeting robot ASIMO at Tokyo's Miraikan Science and Innovation Museum. Photo: DPA

Merkel was speaking in Tokyo ahead of the 70th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II, in which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's conservative views on Tokyo's war crimes are under scrutiny, and as China and South Korea continue to call for ever more contrition.

"Germany was lucky to be accepted in the community of nations after the horrible experience that the world had to meet with Germany during the period of National Socialism (Nazism) and the Holocaust," she said.

"This was possible first because Germany did face its past squarely, but also because the Allied Powers who controlled Germany after the Second World War would attach great importance to Germany coming to grips with its past."

"One of the great achievements of the time certainly was reconciliation between Germany and France… The French have given just as valuable a contribution as the Germans have," she said.

Relations between Japan and its wartime victims, China and South Korea, are at a low point, with Beijing and Seoul both demanding Tokyo does more to atone for its past.

Nationalists in Japan say Tokyo has apologised enough for the past, and that the constant references to WWII are covering flak for governments in China and South Korea who are seeking to direct popular anger elsewhere.

There were "great minds and great personalities who said we ought to adopt a policy of rapprochement… and without these generous gestures by our neighbours this would not have been possible," Merkel told her audience.

The public lecture came on the first day of a two-day trip to Tokyo, her first in seven years, and one that comes after Abe visited Germany last year.

China's foreign minister Wang Yi on Sunday said Abe would be welcome at Beijing's commemorations of the end of WWII if he is "sincere" about history.

Beijing has not given a specific date for the parade, but it regards September 3, the day after Japan signed its formal surrender to Allied forces on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, as victory day.

"It's difficult for me as the German chancellor to give you advice on how to deal with part of your neighbourhood," Merkel said in response to questions.

"But I think history and experience tells us also that peaceful means of reconciliation have to be found," she said.

Merkel will later visit the Imperial Palace to meet Emperor Akihito before a formal sit down with Abe, where a range of issues including the Ukraine crisis are expected to be discussed.

Url copied to clipboard!