Now Two Former Presidents of South Korea Are Under Investigation

SEOUL, South Korea — A former president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, was questioned by prosecutors Wednesday on charges of bribery, embezzlement and tax evasion, a year after another ex-leader was arrested on corruption charges.

Lee, who was president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013, faced a bank of television cameras as he entered the Seoul Central District prosecutors’ office, where he had been summoned for questioning as a criminal suspect.

Prosecutors have questioned or arrested several of Lee’s former aides, as well as relatives and businessmen, as part of the investigation. The questioning of Lee was part of their effort to collect enough evidence to indict him.

“I feel dejected as I stand here,” said Lee, 76, offering an apology for causing “concern” among South Koreans. “I hope that I will be the last former president to stand here.”

Since South Korea’s birth in 1948, all of its presidents have seen their reputations tarnished toward the end of their tenure or during their retirement because of corruption scandals involving them, their relatives or aides.

Lee is the fifth former president to have been questioned by prosecutors on corruption allegations since the 1990s. Cable television channels carried live coverage of Lee’s short ride from his home to the prosecutors’ office.

“Arrest him!” some people shouted as Lee’s car pulled up to the prosecutors’ building Wednesday.

Lee’s successor, Park Geun-hye, became the first South Korean president to be impeached by Parliament, in a December 2016 vote that came amid a corruption scandal. She was formally removed from office and arrested last March.

Last month, prosecutors asked a Seoul court to sentence Park to 30 years in prison on charges of collecting or demanding $21 million in bribes from big businesses like Samsung. Separately, she is accused of coercing businesses into making donations worth $71 million to two foundations that a friend controlled.

A three-judge panel is scheduled to announce its ruling on Park on April 6.

Lee was expected to be questioned on allegations that he collected more than $10 million in illegal funds, including bribes, from various sources, such as Samsung and the government’s National Intelligence Service, when he was a presidential candidate and after he took office.

In a news conference in January, Lee called the investigation politically motivated and accused President Moon Jae-in of using state prosecutors as a tool of “political revenge.” Moon has rejected the accusation.

Moon’s best friend, former President Roh Moo-hyun, took his own life in 2009 shortly after being questioned by prosecutors on corruption allegations involving his family.

Moon and other supporters of Roh have accused Lee, a conservative who was then president, of investigating Roh to humiliate him and discredit liberals. Even after his death, Roh remains an iconic figure among many liberal South Koreans.

Allegations of corruption against Lee first surfaced when he was running in the 2007 election to succeed Roh.

They included claims that Lee, a former Hyundai executive, hid his ownership of a lucrative auto-parts maker in the names of his relatives. He was also accused of using his presidential power to help settle a legal case implicating that auto-parts business,and getting Samsung to pay $5 million in lawyer fees.

Three of South Korea’s former presidents have spent time in jail, including Park.

Former military dictator Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death and his friend and successor, Roh Tae-woo, was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison on bribery, mutiny and sedition charges in 1996. Their sentences were later reduced, and they were pardoned and released in 1997.