In an incident that threatens to end the presidency of South Korea’s leader Park Geun-hye, the 64-year-old president has apologized to the nation, saying she accepts responsibility for an influence-peddling scandal involving friend and confidante, Choi Soon-sil, the Washington Post reported. After it was discovered that Choi had edited some of the president’s speeches, she was formally arrested last week, with *prosecutors saying they were investigating accusations that Choi had put pressure on some of South Korea’s biggest companies to donate US$70 million (474 million yuan) to two foundations she controlled. There are also widespread rumors in the country that Choi *wielded huge political power by pulling President Park’s strings and was responsible for many of the Park administration’s policies.

韩国总统朴槿惠因身陷“闺蜜门”事件而前途未卜，64岁的朴槿惠已向全国公开道歉。据美国《华盛顿邮报》报导，朴方表示会为涉及闺蜜崔顺实以权谋私的丑闻负责。在崔顺实修改的部分总统演讲被曝光后，她已于上周被正式逮捕，检方表示，他们正在对其的指控进行调查——崔顺实向几家韩国大企业施压，要求其捐出7000万美元(合人民币4.74亿元)到她操控的两个基金会。韩国也有传闻称通过对朴槿惠的幕后操纵，崔顺实掌控着巨大的政治权力，并左右了多项政策。

Park, once highly popular among the South Korean population, has seen her approval ratings *plunge to single-digits. She has vowed to take full responsibility if investigations unveil more *wrongdoings by her friend.

朴槿惠，曾在韩国民众中人气颇高，其支持率现已降到冰点。她已郑重承诺如果调查揭发出更多崔顺实的违法行为，她将承担全部责任。