The second son of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has been charged with bribe-taking and evading taxes.

Kim Hong-Up, 53, who denies the allegations, was arrested on 21 June. He is sharing a jail in Seoul with his younger brother Kim Hong-gul, who is on trial on similar charges.

The presidential office "expressed bottomless regrets toward the people," presidential spokeswoman Park Sun-sook said on Wednesday.

The growing family scandal has been a huge blow to the president, and he has apologised repeatedly to the nation.

Kim Hong-up is charged with:

• Taking 2.5 billion won ($2.2 million) in bribes from six businesses in return for peddling influence among government officials
• Taking 2.2bn won ($1.8m) in "donations" from businesses, including conglomerates Hyundai and Samsung, and laundering the money to evade 580m won ($497,000) in taxes

Prosecutors have said that in one case Kim Hong-gul received $819,000 from a construction firm in exchange for helping the company win creditor approval of a debt-relief plan.

Family crisis

Kim Hong-up's brother, 38-year-old Kim Hong-gul, went on trial last month, also on charges of evading tax and influence peddling.

The growing scandal cannot have a direct effect on President Kim, as he has just a few months left in office and is constitutionally barred from seeking a second term, but it has badly damaged his reputation.

President Kim has apologised to the nation

President Kim had made the fight against corruption a top priority when he first took office, but a series of corruption scandals involving not only his family, but his top aides, have undermined his credibility.

The scandals has been blamed for the defeat of the governing Millennium Democratic Party, founded by President Kim, in June's local elections.

The polls were seen as a test of voter intentions ahead of key end-of-year presidential elections.

President Kim himself is not implicated in any of the scandals, but in South Korea, a highly Confucian society, the misdeeds of the child are often blamed on the parents.