Denmark to extradite South Korea `Rasputin` daughter

Copenhagen: Danish prosecutors said Friday that they would extradite the daughter of Choi Soon-Sil, the woman at the centre of a corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea`s president.

Chung Yoo-Ra, the 20-year-old daughter of the woman dubbed South Korea`s "Rasputin", is one of the figures in the influence-peddling scandal that led to huge street protests demanding the removal of President Park Geun-Hye.

Chung was detained in Denmark on January 1 for overstaying her visa, after South Korean authorities issued a warrant for her arrest. Seoul then sought her extradition.

"After having reviewed the South Korean request for extradition thoroughly, it is our opinion that all conditions for extradition in the Danish Extradition Act are met," Mohammad Ahsan, deputy director of the public prosecutor`s office, said in a statement.

Chung, who has denied any wrongdoing, will appeal the decision with the Aalborg district court, her lawyer, Peter Martin Blinkenberg, told the Ritzau news agency.

She has three days to do so.

Chung, an equestrian who has reportedly bought horses and trained in Denmark in the past, has told police that she was in the country because of her involvement in the sport. 

Chung`s mother, a confidante of Park`s, is accused of using her influence to secure her daughter`s admission to an elite Seoul university, Ewha Womans University, with a state probe revealing that the school had admitted Chung at the expense of better-qualified candidates.

The revelation touched a raw nerve in education-obsessed South Korea.

Several professors at the university, including a former school president, have been investigated for allegedly giving Chung preferential treatment.