13 October 2017•Update: 13 October 2017
By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
Former South Korean President Park Geun- was ordered to remain in detention Friday, three days before her six-month arrest period was set to expire.
Seoul Central District Court granted a new warrant to prevent Park -- who was expelled from office in March -- from destroying evidence, according to Yonhap News Agency.
She can now be held until April of next year while she waits for the outcome of a trial that has seen around four sessions a week since June.
Park was impeached and later prosecuted on multiple power abuse charges including her alleged involvement in forcing local conglomerates to pay tens of millions of dollars in bribes.
Her case is tied to that of Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-, who began his appeal this week against a five-year prison sentence for his part in the presidential scandal that led to weekly mass protests on South Korea's streets from late last year.
While Samsung Electronics announced Friday an expected tripling of its third-quarter operating profit, acting chief and CEO Kwon Oh- revealed he is to step down.
"As we are confronted with unprecedented crisis inside and out, I believe that time has now come for the company to start anew," he said in a statement.
He added that he fears the company's current strong performance is "based on made in the past".
