"Tragic" Former President Lee Myung-bak reads a statement he prepared, standing before the photojournalists in front of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the morning of March 14. A year ago, former President Park Geun-hye stood in the same spot on charges of abusing state authority. The sight of former presidents as suspects tarnishes the dignity of a country, but the law is equal to all. Joint press photographers

Former President Lee Myung-bak (77) appeared before the Prosecution Service and was questioned as a suspect on bribery charges on March 14. This happened five years after he retired as the president in February 2013. Lee has become the fifth former president to be questioned by prosecutors after his retirement following former presidents Roh Tae-woo, Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye. Reportedly, former President Lee denied his involvement and instructions on most of the charges including bribery during the questioning this day.

The questioning continued late into the night after it began at 9:50 a.m. Lee is suspected of seventeen charges including bribery. He allegedly received a total of 11 billion won when Samsung Electronics paid for the legal fees of DAS and when the National Intelligence Service (NIS) provided him with the agency's budget for special activity expenses. Lee is also suspected of embezzlement and misappropriation of over 30 billion won of slush funds from DAS, abuse of authority in his involvement in the DAS trial as the president, and tax evasion by possessing a multiple number of real estate under another name. The former president generally denied the charges against him in the questioning this day. A representative of the Prosecution Service said, "I think we can say that there were no charges that he acknowledged." The former president also made a statement implying that he was not the owner of DAS, which the Prosecution Service has concluded as the former president's company owned under another name, and that he had never been involved in the management of the company.

This morning at 9:23 a.m. former President Lee arrived at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-dong, Seoul and stood before the reporters waiting to take pictures. He said, "I stand here in a tragic mood. At a time when the people's economic situation is in difficulty and the security environment surrounding the Korean Peninsula is grave, I am deeply sorry to the people for causing concern," and bowed his head. Lee said, "I have many things I would like to say as a former president, but I continue to remind myself that I should spare my words. However, I do hope that this will be the last time (that a former president is questioned) in our history." He apologized to the people, but he indirectly criticized the prosecutors' investigation as an extension of the political retaliation, which he mentioned in January.

Shin Bong-su, director of High-tech Criminal Investigation Division 1 asked about the allegations concerning DAS, then Song Gyeong-ho, director of Special Crimes Division 2 asked about the bribery charges. The representative of the Prosecution Service said, "Former President Lee fully explained his position."

The prosecutors plan to decide whether to request an arrest warrant for the former president soon, after they review the answers from the latest questioning. Voices within the Prosecution Service claim that an arrest would be inevitable in terms of equity with his accomplices already arrested, and also given the fact that the former president flatly denied his charges and that the charges involve tens of billions of won.