亲信腐败丑闻使朴槿惠遭遇政治危机
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.
他们是韩国总统最亲密的盟友。崔顺实（Choi Soon-sil，音译）是她长期以来的心腹，安正范(Ahn Chong-bum)则几十年来站在朴槿惠(Park Geun-hye)一边，向她提供咨询和建议。
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.
但现在，有关他们腐败和裙带资本主义的指控越来越多，酿成了朴槿惠职业生涯中最大的政治危机，这可能会令她的主要政策化为泡影，并玷污她的“遗产”。
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.
检察官正在调查如下指控，即崔顺实和负责政策协调的总统高级秘书安正范利用其影响力强迫三星(Samsung)、现代(Hyundai)、SK集团(SK Group)和LG集团(LG Group)等大型企业集团向两家非营利财团捐款数百万美元。
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.
这些指控已成为一项国会审查的焦点（反对派政客批评该审查没有权威性），并正在削弱朴槿惠在任内最后18个月里改革劳动法并复兴增长乏力的韩国经济的努力。
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.
周四，朴槿惠下令对这些指控进行全面调查，并警告称，无论谁从事了与上述两家财团相关的非法行为，都将受到“严厉的”惩罚。
The president’s approval ratings, at 26 per cent, are the lowest since she took power in February 2013.
目前，朴槿惠的支持率为26%，是她在2013年2月就任总统以来的最低水平。
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.
由于崔顺实策划了Mir财团和K体育财团的成立，它们在几个月内便从53家企业收到了800亿韩元（合7200万美元）的捐款。它们的成立仅仅一天便获得批准——这在韩国来说快得非同寻常——并已中标了一些大型公共项目，尽管它们缺乏相关经验。
