Former South Korean President Park Sentenced to 24 Years in Jail

• April 06 2018
• Kanga Kong

Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s first female president, was sentenced to 24-years in prison after being found guilty of crimes ranging from bribery to coercion, abuse of power and the leaking of state secrets.

Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s first female president, was sentenced to 24-years in prison after being found guilty of crimes ranging from bribery to coercion, abuse of power and the leaking of state secrets.

The sentence handed down by a panel of three judges at the Seoul Central District Court was more lenient than the 30 years sought by prosecutors. Park can appeal to a higher court.

Park, 66, who was impeached last year over an influence peddling scandal that led to protests by hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of the capital, didn’t show up at court. She denied most of the allegations, head judge Kim Se-yoon said.

The judges concluded that Park colluded with Choi Soon-sil, a longtime friend who has never held a government position, and former aides to seek favors from leaders of the nation’s business conglomerates, known in Korean as chaebol.

The court accepted the prosecutors’ argument that she pressured top executives to donate tens of millions of dollars to foundations run by Choi in return for government favors. Park also colluded with her friend Choi to help her daughter get financial support from Samsung Electronics Co. for her equestrian training, the court said.

QuickTake: South Korea’s Chaebol

Citing a lack of evidence, the judges rejected prosecutors’ allegations that Park sought bribes from Samsung in return for government help to solidify Jay Y. Lee’s control of the conglomerate.

The ruling follows the arrest two weeks ago of her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, a conservative from the same party, over a separate bribery case before and during his 2008-2013 term in office.

While the office of current liberal President Moon Jae-in denies any involvement in the decisions, they come amid his push to wipe out what he calls “deep-rooted evil” across society. The president’s conservative rivals claim he’s motivated by political revenge.

Supporters Gather

Park’s supporters -- mainly older conservative voters -- have staged street demonstrations almost every weekend to protest against her impeachment and imprisonment. Hundreds were gathered outside the court on Friday.

As the first daughter of Park Chung-hee, who ruled the country from 1963 until his assassination in 1979, her name is divisive in South Korea. While her father was brutal in suppressing democratic activities, many older supporters credit him for leading the nation from the ashes of the Korean War to become Asia’s fourth-biggest economy.

Park and Lee are not the only South Korean leaders to have been sent to prison. In the 1990s, former dictator Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death, and his successor, Roh Tae-woo, received a 22 1/2-year term after the pair were found guilty of creating slush funds and inciting a coup. Both were later pardoned.

— With assistance by Yoojung Lee, and Shinhye Kang