S. Korean Court Increases Ex-President Park’s Sentence To 25 Years

A Seoul appeals court on Friday increased ex-president Park Geun-Hye’s sentence for corruption to 25 years and fined her 17.8 million dollars (20 billion won), the news agency Yonhap reported.

Park, 66, was jailed for 24 years in April and fined 18 billion won after being found guilty of abuse of power, bribery and leaking state secrets.

Prosecutors at Seoul High Court had sought to increase her prison term to 30 years and the fine to 118.5 billion won, arguing she had been inappropriately cleared of some charges.

The daughter of Military Dictator, Park Chung-Hee, Park was ousted from office in March 2017 after being impeached for corruption following weeks of demonstrations calling for her resignation.

Park was accused of allowing her close friend, Choi

Soon-Sil too much access to government business – Choi held no official post – and of helping her friend to extort money from top companies including Samsung.

Park has always denied the accusations, arguing that they were politically motivated, and did not attend the reading of Friday’s court ruling.