S Korea’s Park ’Willing to Resign’
Local Editor
South Korea's President Park Geun-hye said she has asked parliament to help her find a way to stand down.
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 said the president should stand down "honorably" before it reached that point.
Park apologized twice before, and said she is "heartbroken" by the political crisis around her, but refused to stand down.
In Tuesday'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 minimizes any power vacuum and chaos in governance".
A spokesman for the opposition Democratic Party, Youn Kwan-suk, said the speech was a "trick" which "lacked reflection".
"What people want is her immediate resignation, not dragging out and dodging the responsibility to the parliament," he told the Yonhap news agency.
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.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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