親信腐敗醜聞使朴槿惠遭遇政治危機
They are the South Korean president’s closest allies. Choi Soon-sil, her long-time confidant, and Ahn Chong-bum have been by the side of Park Geun-hye for decades, offering counsel and advice.
他們是韓國總統最親密的盟友。崔順實（Choi Soon-sil，音譯）是她長期以來的心腹，安正範(Ahn Chong-bum)則幾十年來站在朴槿惠(Park Geun-hye)一邊，向她提供諮詢和建議。
But now allegations against them of corruption and crony capitalism are snowballing into the biggest political crisis of the president’s career, threatening to scupper her flagship policies and tarnish her legacy.
但現在，有關他們腐敗和裙帶資本主義的指控越來越多，釀成了朴槿惠職業生涯中最大的政治危機，這可能會令她的主要政策化爲泡影，並玷污她的“遺產”。
Prosecutors are investigating claims that Ms Choi and Mr Ahn, senior presidential secretary for policy co-ordination, used their influence to coerce big conglomerates, including Samsung, Hyundai, SK Group and LG Group, into making multimillion-dollar donations into two non-profit foundations.
檢察官正在調查如下指控，即崔順實和負責政策協調的總統高級祕書安正範利用其影響力強迫三星(Samsung)、現代(Hyundai)、SK集團(SK Group)和LG集團(LG Group)等大型企業集團向兩家非營利財團捐款數百萬美元。
The allegations have become the focus of a parliamentary audit — which opposition politicians criticise as toothless — and are hampering Ms Park’s efforts to reform labour laws and revive a flagging economy in her 18 months left in office.
這些指控已成爲一項國會審查的焦點（反對派政客批評該審查沒有權威性），並正在削弱朴槿惠在任內最後18個月裏改革勞動法並復興增長乏力的韓國經濟的努力。
Ms Park on Thursday ordered a thorough investigation of the allegations, warning that anyone who committed illegal acts related to the foundations would face “stern” punishments.
週四，朴槿惠下令對這些指控進行全面調查，並警告稱，無論誰從事了與上述兩家財團相關的非法行爲，都將受到“嚴厲的”懲罰。
The president’s approval ratings, at 26 per cent, are the lowest since she took power in February 2013.
目前，朴槿惠的支持率爲26%，是她在2013年2月就任總統以來的最低水平。
Since Ms Choi masterminded the creation of the Mir and K-Sports foundations, they have collected about Won80bn ($72m) from 53 companies in just a few months. It took a single day to approve their creation — unusually fast for South Korea — and they have won bids for big public projects despite their lack of relevant experience.
由於崔順實策劃了Mir財團和K體育財團的成立，它們在幾個月內便從53家企業收到了800億韓元（合7200萬美元）的捐款。它們的成立僅僅一天便獲得批准——這在韓國來說快得非同尋常——並已中標了一些大型公共項目，儘管它們缺乏相關經驗。
