The pills were not used, said Jung Youn-kuk, spokesman of the presidential Blue House.
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None of this was much help to Park, who has been struggling with the corruption scandal for weeks.
According to the article, the National Assembly is granted the right to pass a motion for impeachment in case the president has violated the Constitution or other laws in the performance of official duties.
Park’s lawyer Yoo Yeong-ha rejected the assertion that she was involved, calling it an “imagination” and saying prosecutors “have built a house of fantasy”. The eight opposition likely candidates on November 20 also said in their statement that the discussion of impeachment should be led by the three opposition parties and the National Assembly, which appears to suggest a coalition with Saenuri Party lawmakers who support impeachment.
Parliament members have been under growing public pressure to oust Park, with weekly protests drawing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators across the country.
The risk of a presidential impeachment in the democratic South, along with North Korea’s nuclear threat, have turned the Korean peninsula into Asia’s biggest unknown for global investors, Belinda Boa, Head of Active Investments for Asia Pacific at BlackRock, told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
Choi and a former Park aide were formally indicted on charges of abuse of power and coercion, while another aide was charged with leaking confidential state documents. The presidential office also specified the pills were not used in the end.
When Park senior was assassinated by his head of intelligence in 1979, there was speculation it was because the spy chief was anxious the president was being manipulated by the man dubbed “the Korean Rasputin”.
Prosecutors on Sunday said Park had played a “collusive role” in Choi’s criminal activities, which included coercing conglomerates into donating tens of millions of dollars to non-profit foundations, allegedly for Choi’s personal gain.
To get an impeachment through the single-chamber 300-member parliament, at least 200 or two thirds of the total votes are necessary. Of the nine justices of the court, six must support the impeachment.
According to documents submitted by prosecutors to the court, Park allegedly ordered Choi and one of Park’s ex-aides a year ago to collect money from businesses to help support the launch of the two nonprofit foundations controlled by Choi.
The opposition may attempt to impeach Ms Park if she stays in office in order to protect her immunity.
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The search is apparently aimed at Woo Byung-woo, Park’s former civil affairs secretary, who has been accused of failing to prevent Ms Choi from influencing state affairs and has been embroiled in separate corruption allegations surrounding his family.
