Park Geun-hye says sorry to people before entering prosecutors' office

South Korea's ousted President Park Geun-hye arrives at a prosecutor's office in Seoul, South Korea, March 21, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

SEOUL - Ousted South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in front of cameras at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on Tuesday that she was sorry to the public and would faithfully undergo the questioning.

Park is scheduled to appear in the office at about 9:30 am local time on Tuesday, becoming the fourth South Korean former president to be interrogated by prosecutors.

She was permanently removed from office on March 10 as the constitutional court unanimously upheld the bill to impeach her, making Park the first South Korean leader to be ousted through impeachment.

Park has stayed at her private home in southern Seoul since she vacated the presidential Blue House on March 12.

During the questioning, state prosecutors would focus on Park's alleged involvement in charges of bribery, abuse of power and the leakage of state secrets, according to local media reports.

Park has been accused of colluding with her decades-long friend Choi Soon-sil, who is currently in custody, to receive tens of millions of US dollars in bribes from Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the heir apparent of Samsung Group who was also taken into custody.

The kickbacks are suspected of being offered in return for helping Lee inherit the overall management control of the country's biggest family-controlled conglomerate from his ailing father Chairman Lee Kun-hee who has been hospitalized for heart attack for almost three years.

Park was also identified as an accomplice to Choi in extorting tens of millions of US dollars from scores of large business conglomerates to establish two nonprofit foundations Choi used for personal gains.

Choi has been charged with meddling in state affairs behind the scene by receiving government documents on a regular basis through Park's former presidential secretary.