For President Park Geun-hye, her entire fate is riding on the Constitutional Court’s ongoing trial of her impeachment, the result of which will determine whether she is to complete her term in office or to step down in disgrace.

Striving to shun the worst scenario, Park and her legal aides have apparently adopted a dual strategy -- delaying the trial as much as possible, and resisting the special investigation at all costs.

“President Park should never have complied with the special prosecutors’ investigation in the first place,” Sohn Beom-kyu, one of the legal representatives for the president, said Thursday in a radio interview with CBS.

The lawyer’s remarks largely contradicted the president’s previous pledges to “sincerely respond to the independent counsel’s summoning.”

It also referred to the current deadlock between the special investigation team led by Independent Counsel Park Young-soo and the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae over the face-to-face questioning of the president.

While investigators were preparing for the first-ever summons of an incumbent president on Feb. 8-10, conflicts were rekindled by reports that Thursday was set as D-day.

Park’s aides immediately filed a complaint, suggesting that the investigators had leaked the information so as to influence the public sentiment.

“We will reconsider the face-to-face questioning (of the president),” an official of the Blue House said Wednesday.

Also, Park’s legal representation delivered a statement to the special prosecutors, declaring that the president would not respond to the summons but reschedule the occasion to another date.

“The independent counsel is manipulating the media,” one of the lawyers said, upon addressing the investigation team.

While finding fault with the investigation team’s procedure, Park’s aides increasingly put focus on the president’s constitutional privileges, including immunity to criminal prosecution.

“The independent counsel, just like prosecutors, does not hold the right to forcefully prosecute the president,” Sohn claimed.

He also accused the ongoing special investigation as having “political intention,” alluding that it has already concluded the president’s wrongdoings.

“I believe that it is best (for Park) to turn down the independent counsel’s summons,” the lawyer added.

“Investigation may continue later, should the president be impeached and permanently suspended from power.”

The lawyer also blasted upon the opposition political parties and the protesting public for pressuring the court for a prompt judgment.

“What is causing the current vacuum in state affairs is not the trial process but the impeachment bill and those who demanded for it,” he said.

Meanwhile, concerns continued to build on the possibility that the court may not hand down its ruling by mid-March as planned, in which case the timeline for the next presidential election is likely to suffer a setback.

The delay is largely due to the extensive number of witnesses which Park‘s lawyers requested for testimony, as well as the president’s refusal to show up at the court so far.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)