Aide to Choi Soon-sil arrested in Netherlands

A fugitive aide to former President Park Geun-hye’s longtime confidante, Choi Soon-sil, has been arrested in the Netherlands by Interpol, officials said Wednesday.

David Yoon, who helped Choi and her daughter, Chung Yu-ra, live in Germany, was arrested in a Dutch city early this month. Seoul prosecutors are pushing for his extradition, the officials said.

Yoon, a German national, went missing after the Park corruption scandal broke out in 2016, and Korean prosecutors subsequently put him on Interpol’s wanted list on bribery charges. Yoon is accused of accepting bribes from a developer by promising to offer favors with the help of Park.

A man surnamed Han, who pocketed a bribe of 300 million won ($254,000) in collusion with Yoon, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and a fine of 150 million won in April. Yoon was reportedly acquainted with Park, as he had served as an interpreter for the former president during her visit to Germany.

Prosecutors are pushing for Yoon’s extradition, as they suspect he was involved in various crimes committed by Choi.

Yonhap