SEOUL, Jan 14, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – South Korea’s top court upheld a 20-year
prison sentence for disgraced former president Park Geun-hye on Thursday, in
the final ruling over the corruption scandal that brought her down.
The decision brings to an end an extended legal process, including a
previous Supreme Court hearing.
The country’s first female president was impeached in 2017 after huge
street protests against her rule.
She was convicted the following year of bribery and abuse of power and
jailed for 30 years. A series of appeals, a retrial and further appeals
followed which reduced her sentence to 20 years.
On Thursday, the case went for a second time before the Supreme Court,
which said it accepted and confirmed the 20-year sentence.
The court also upheld fines and forfeits totalling 21.5 billion won
(US$19.5 million).
Park has been boycotting the proceedings, saying they are biased against
her, and was not present in court on Thursday.
In addition, she has separately been sentenced to two years in prison — to
run consecutively — for election law violations.
She now faces a total of 22 years behind bars and would be in her 80s by
the time her sentence is up.
The corruption scandal exposed shady links between big businesses and
politics in South Korea, with Park and her close friend Choi Soon-sil accused
of taking bribes from conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics, in
exchange for preferential treatment.
Park’s left-leaning successor Moon Jae-in was swept to power by the public
backlash against her and her conservative party.
South Korean presidents have frequently ended up in prison after their time
in power, usually once their political rivals have moved into the
presidential Blue House.
All four of South Korea’s living ex-presidents have been convicted of
criminal offences, and former head of state Roh Moo-hyun committed suicide in
2009 after being questioned over graft allegations involving his family.
But Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, former army generals who served jail
terms in the 1990s for corruption and treason after leaving office, received
presidential pardons after serving about two years.
Thursday’s ruling completes the trial process and makes Park legally
eligible for a pardon herself.
Lee Nak-yon, the leader of President Moon’s Democratic Party, said earlier
this month he “plans to suggest” pardoning Park and Lee Myung-bak, another
former president currently serving a jail term, but faced an immediate
backlash from politicians on both sides of the aisle.