Park's Office Rocked by Alleged Corruption Scandal; Police Bust Pakistan Organ Trafficking Ring
VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour. Iraqi forces are fighting ISIS militants inside Mosul for the first time in more than two years. The troops stormed in from the east on Thursday. Hundreds of civilians have fled the city but more than one million civilians are estimated to be still inside Mosul. Just days before the U.S. presidential election polling showing the race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton continues to tighten. Clinton has just a four-point lead in CNN's average of national polls. They both campaigned in North Carolina a few hours ago for the state's crucial 15 electoral votes. British Prime Minister Theresa May says she still plans to set the formal process for leaving the E.U. into motion this March. Britain's high court gummed up the works by ruling that May's government must consult parliament before invoking Article 50 triggering the departure. A Supreme Court appeal is set for December. Turkish authorities detained 11 members of the country's main pro- Kurdish opposition party. The arrests were made during raids on Thursday night and are in connection to a terror investigation. The Turkish government accuses the party of having links with the Kurdish militant group, the PKK. South Korea's leader, Park Geun-Hye says she will cooperate with investigators in a corruption scandal that is engulfing her administration. The president's friend, Choi Soon-sil was arrested and charged Thursday with abuse of power and attempted fraud for meddling in state affairs. Park says she apologizes for the scandal and will accept the outcome of the investigation. Paula Hancocks is following this story. She joins us now live from Seoul. Paula -- under the South Korean constitution the President cannot be prosecuted while in office. Even so, could this scandal force her to resign?</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's certainly possible, John. I mean, at this point, her approval rating in this country according to "Gallup Korea" is five percent. Now that is the lowest of any South Korean president in history. So certainly she is being slammed publicly for this scandal. Now, she is hoping, probably, that this second apology, that this agreement that she would be part of the investigation if necessary is going to go some way to trying to restore that public trust in her. Let's listen to some of what she said this morning.</s>PARK GEUN-HYE, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I thought I was improving the economy and the lives of the people. But in this process, a certain individual has committed corruption for personal gain. Everything is my fault and my mistake and I feel huge responsibility for this.</s>HANCOCKS: Certainly distancing herself from her confidante there, really putting the blame on her and saying that it was because she didn't have family. She cut ties with family and was very lonely. So she lowered her guard and that's why she decided to trust this individual. John?</s>VAUSE: The president has also had to deny rumors that she was part of a cult?</s>HANCOCKS: Yes, this is something you do not hear a president of a country saying to her people. She said I am not part of a cult despite the rumors you may have heard. Also saying there have not been shamanistic rituals in the presidential palace. Now this sounds bizarre and it is bizarre. This is basically because the father of this confidante started a cult-like religion back in the '70s and is believed to have mentored President Park Geun-hye when she was in her 20s. So the family has had an long influence on Park Geun-hye. And as you can imagine the rumors and speculation in this country are in some cases out of control. So the president felt she had to say I'm not part of a cult. But, of course, any president having to say that, you can just see how deep the scandal is that she is embroiled in. John?</s>VAUSE: And it is incredible to think that just four years ago, she made history by becoming South Korea's first female leader. This is an incredible fall from grace.</s>HANCOCKS: Absolutely. And she also campaigned an absolute anti- corruption ticket. She said she was going to clean up South Korean politics. Now she is standing there, having to apologize, saying she feels deeply sorry. She said her heart is breaking for what has happened, but she is having to apologize for something that she said she was going to make sure would not happen under her administration. So certainly it's deeply embarrassing for the president, but clearly she'll be hoping that with this second apology that some of the public at least will be accepting that apology. But we've seen tens of thousands of people out on the streets this weekend, we're expecting more Next weekend we're expecting up to 100,000 with the labor unions getting involved as well. So it's difficult to see where this story will end. John?</s>VAUSE: Hard to see the off ramp for her at this point, but we'll continue to follow the story. Paula Hancocks live this hour in Seoul. Thank you. Pakistani police have busted a kidney trafficking ring which actually involves surgeons. They rescued about 20 victims last month in the city of Rawalpindi just outside the capital. They may have been held for months. CNN has reported on organ trafficking in the region for years. These are scenes from part of a story. Well, some people sell their organs voluntarily. National Public Radio reported that the people in the Rawalpindi case were being held apparently to force them to give up their organs. For more on this case and the issue of organ trafficking, I'm joined now by Dr. Jeremy Chapman. He's a prominent campaigner against the trade -- the illegal trade of organs. He's also had</s>DR. JEREMY CHAPMAN, CLINICAL PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY: Yes that about sums up the organ trade. It's a good summary. The desperation of patients and the desperation of the poor are put together by people who want to make some money. This case is sad. It's not the worst case out of Pakistan, sadly. In this instance, 24 people were told that they could come to Rawalpindi to earn some money, get a job. In order to do that, they needed travel permits to get Rawalpindi. And I've understood that there was a scam whereby they went to a high court garden and thought that in the court garden, they were signing official documents under an official of the court which they swore they needed travel to allow them to go to Rawalpindi to donate a kidney to their relative. That document, which they probably didn't understand was then used for their travel permit. They were brought to Rawalpindi. They were stuck in a room and locked there until found by the police. It's not the worst scam. As I said, I think the worst one I've heard of is somebody set up a private clinic in a very poor area. Any time they decided that the poor patient needed an operation, they said you need an operation. Can't afford it. Well I do know a hospital, and if you give them a kidney, they will do the operation for you for free.</s>VAUSE: Right. So Pakistan seems to have cornered the market on the illegal sale of kidneys in particular. Why is that?</s>CHAPMAN: Well, unfortunately, they haven't cornered the market. Egypt is terrible at the moment. Sri Lanka is bad. Parts of India are bad. Bangladesh is bad. China remains on our watch list. Mexico, there are others. Pakistan was good for about three or four years. There was a government action to stop this trade about five years ago and it did stop and with government action most of the trade closed down. Patients were not traveling there. What's happened now is that the white boys, the guys who want to get rich and put another airplane engine on their airplane have gone to make some money and decided that the government is going to let them do it.</s>VAUSE: I just want to give you the flip side of the argument, though. Because if you are a parent and you have money, you have a child that needs a kidney, it may not be right but some people will see that they have to do whatever they can to save that child's life. So how do you address that part of the equation?</s>CHAPMAN: Yes, sure, and that's a point I made that there is desperation on the part of the parent -- the patient as well as on the part of the donors. So strongly advise you against getting a dodgy kidney from somebody with infectious disease in a country where the surgery is substandard and your risks of death are around 20 percent. It's really not a good idea. Clearly, we have to attend to the needs for organ donation in every country in the world and to encourage appropriate organ donation. That includes the United States. That includes Australia. We need proper organ donation programs and they're just as important to stopping this illegal trade. But risking your child in a highly vulnerable environment is simply crazy and people need to be counselled carefully to avoid what they see as an illusionary opportunity. It is just an illusion.</s>VAUSE: OK. Dr. Chapman, we'll leave it there, but thank you so much for being with us. It's such a sad story.</s>CHAPMAN: It is indeed. Good to talk to you.</s>VAUSE: Thank you, sir. Still to come here, Trump or bust. Will his supporters revolt or retreat if Donald loses the election?