Woo Byung-woo, ousted President Park Geun-hye’s former aide, appeared at the prosecution’s office Thursday for questioning over a corruption scandal that led to Park’s removal from power and arrest.

Woo, who served Park as a presidential secretary for civil affairs from 2015 to 2016, is suspected of abetting or condoning Choi’s meddling in state affairs and exerting undue influence over the prosecution to disrupt a probe into the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014.

Woo, a prosecutor-turned-presidential aide, turned up at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office at 9:54 a.m. to be questioned for the third time. He has been grilled twice since the scandal broke out -- once by state prosecutors and then by an independent counsel.

“I will answer all these questions while faithfully undergoing the questioning,” he told reporters, looking nervous and fragile. He came under fire for his seemingly arrogant attitude and lack of remorse when he showed up for the previous prosecutorial questioning.

“I feel heartbroken about the president,” he said, when asked if he had anything to say to the public.

Woo has maintained that he had not been aware of Choi Soon-sil and her alleged meddling in state affairs.

Choi’s manipulation of power behind the scenes as well as the Park administration’s botched efforts to rescue more lives during the Sewol ferry disaster are major reasons the parliament voted to impeach her on Dec. 9.

Park was arrested on March 31, three weeks after she was forced out of office and lost her presidential immunity to criminal investigation. She is suspected of extorting donations from local firms to help Choi’s business interests.

Park was also questioned in jail for the second time Thursday over the corruption allegations.

Despite his failure to perform his duty to stop corruption in the civil service and the influence he wielded over the Park administration, Woo has so far avoided being arrested and indicted. A number of ex-ministers, presidential aides and Samsung Group’s de facto chief Lee Jae-yong are standing trial in connection to the corruption scandal.

Woo, who faces eight charges including abuse of authority and negligence of duty, is also accused of intervening in personnel appointments in the government to sack officials uncooperative with irregularities committed by Park and Choi. The prosecution also suspects him of attempting to cover up the scandal.

He is separately being investigated for alleged embezzlement involving his family members.

Special counsel Park Young-soo, whose 70-day investigation ended on Feb. 28, had suspected Woo as a key figure in the corruption scandal. But he avoided legal action due to the special counsel’s limited investigation period. Its request in February for a warrant to arrest Woo was also rejected, with the court saying his charges are “debatable.”

The prosecution said it had questioned about 50 people as witnesses as part of the probe into Woo. Among them were state prosecutors who took the lead in investigating the maritime police who failed to save more lives during the ferry disaster and Choo Myeong-ho, ex-chief of the nation’s spy agency.

The prosecution is set to review whether to ask the court to issue an arrest warrant for him following Thursday’s interrogation. The request is likely to come within this week.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)