State prosecutors on Wednesday requested that a local court issue a warrant to formally arrest Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of President Park Geun-hye, who is at the center of a political scandal rocking the country.

Earlier on Monday, prosecutors put Choi into emergency detention, after hours of questioning her about the allegations raised against her, saying she might be a flight risk or try to destroy evidence. She had returned to South Korea over the weekend after nearly two months of staying in Europe.

The 60-year-old is suspected of influencing state affairs via her decades-old friendship with the president.

She is also accused of siphoning off funds from two nonprofit organizations that received some tens of billions of won in donations from local firms.

Prosecutors are currently looking into whether Choi and others involved in the matter pressured the companies to donate, using ties to the president.

Choi is known to have been denying most of the allegations raised against her.

Public outrage over the scandal has been escalating, with Park's approval ratings dipping to a woeful single digit.

Faced with growing calls from the public to take responsibility, Park carried out a partial reshuffle of her secretariat Sunday, followed by another one on Wednesday. The president will soon fill other vacant positions, according to presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk.

Park, however, has not issued an official statement regarding the scandal since she apologized in a nationally televised address last week for handing over drafts of presidential speeches to Choi and letting her edit them.

Choi -- the daughter of Park's late mentor Choi Tae-min, a leader of a questionable religious group who died in 1994 -- does not hold any official governmental post. Park is known to have developed a friendship with the Choi family after her mother and then-first lady Yook Young-soo was assassinated in 1974. (Yonhap)