New Delhi:
The embattled South Korean president announced on Tuesday that she would address the public amid a push by lawmakers for impeachment and growing public calls for her resignation.
It wasn't clear what Park Geun-hye planned to say in the live TV broadcast, but a resignation would be a major surprise.
Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in Seoul each Saturday for the last five weeks to demand that Park step down, but she has rejected calls to leave office and has dismissed prosecutor's claims that she colluded with a confidante who allegedly manipulated power from the shadows and extorted companies to amass an illicit fortune.
Her planned speech comes as opposition parties close in on an impeachment motion against her. They plan to put that motion up for vote on Friday. The country's two largest opposition parties were also planning on Tuesday to nominate a special prosecutor to independently investigate the scandal.
There has also been growing momentum from past supporters for her to leave. Some members of Park's conservative Saenuri party have vowed to support an impeachment attempt, arguing it would serve the party's interests to distance itself from Park ahead of next year's presidential election.
Some pro-Park members of the party have even called for her to set a fixed date for resignation to allow her an "orderly exit" while an interim Cabinet named by the parliament organized a new presidential vote.
