The beleaguered President Park Geun-hye is moving to hire four or five lawyers for her legal team, multiple sources from the legal circle said Monday.

The move comes as the president, apparently determined to face her biggest crisis head-on, prepares for a legal battle that may determine the fate of her presidency.

In a major humiliating blow to the scandal-ridden conservative leader, prosecutors on Sunday named her an accomplice to crimes allegedly committed by her now-infamous friend Choi Soon-sil and two former presidential secretaries.

Park is accused of colluding with them to force large conglomerates to donate billons of won to two nonprofit foundations controlled by Choi. The investigators also suspect that Park pressured some of the firms to give contracts to companies run by Choi or Choi’s close associates.

The president, through her attorney Yoo Yeong-ha, strongly rejected the allegations and openly pledged not to cooperate with the ongoing prosecutorial probe in the future.

“The president will cooperate with an impartial probe led by an independent counsel,” Yoo said.

As Park faces more scrutiny from the independent counsel and the parliament, the president is preparing to form a team of legal representatives. 

The opposition lawmakers are moving to set in motion a campaign to impeach Park. Once the parliament passes the impeachment motion, it is the Constitutional Court that decides whether Park’s alleged misdeed warrants her removal.

The Constitution states that a sitting president can be impeached when he or she is found to have violated the Constitution or law.

By Korea Herald staff (khnews@heraldcorp.com)