South Korea appeals court gives ex-president Park 25-year jail term - Yonhap

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South Korea appeals court gives ex-president Park 25-year jail term - Yonhap

 

FILE PHOTO: South Korean ousted leader Park Geun-hye arrives at a court in Seoul, South Korea, August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean appeals court sentenced former President Park Geun-hye to 25 years in jail on Friday, the Yonhap news agency reported, in a case arising from a far-reaching corruption scandal that toppled her from power in 2017.

 

Park became South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be forced from office when the Constitutional Court removed her over a scandal that landed the heads of two conglomerates in jail.

 

The Seoul High Court found that Park colluded with her friend, Choi Soon-sil, to receive tens of billions of won from major conglomerates to help Choi's family and fund non-profit foundations owned by her, Yonhap reported, citing the court.

 

The court also fined Park, the daughter of a former military dictator, 20 billion won ($17.86 million) after finding her guilty of charges including bribery and coercion, Yonhap said.

 

A lower court had jailed Park for 24 years in April. Prosecutors appealed against that decision, seeking a tougher sentence.

Another South Korean court sentenced Park in July to eight more years in prison in a separate case arising from the same scandal, finding her guilty on charges of causing the loss of government funds and interfering in a 2016 parliamentary election.

 

Park, 66, has been in jail since March 31, 2017, but has denied wrongdoing and was not present in court. She returned to South Korea's presidential palace in 2012 as the country's first woman leader more than three decades after she left it following the assassination of her father.

 

Her ouster last year led to a presidential election won by the liberal Moon Jae-in, whose conciliatory stance on North Korea has led to a significant warming of ties with the North.

 

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-08-24

[Tchooptip]

Politics is so rotten, and politicians ready for the worst for everything and anything, that it is impossible to know if it's 100% true or 100% false

[Mac98]

Someone please bring this story to the attention of The White House.

[Tchooptip]

2 hours ago, Mac98 said:

Someone please bring this story to the attention of The White House.

Is there some petrol in South Korea?