Former President Park Geun-hye reportedly ordered her chief of staff to meet with top court officials to delay a ruling on a 2013 civil suit involving Koreans forced into labor during Japan’s colonial occupation. 

According to investigative authorities, former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon on Tuesday told prosecutors that Park ordered him to produce measures regarding the litigation. 

Kim reportedly testified that he discussed Park's orders at a meeting with then Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Cha Han-seong, then chief of the National Court Administration under the Supreme Court, in December 2013.  Then Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn was also confirmed to have attended the meeting. 

Kim told the prosecution said that he briefed the president after the meeting, adding he followed Park's orders for the sake of national interest. 

The prosecution suspects that in the meeting, Kim asked the top court to delay or overturn an earlier verdict in the suit.