{"id":1352,"date":"2018-03-08T01:53:23","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T01:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/?p=1352"},"modified":"2018-03-08T01:53:23","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T01:53:23","slug":"south-korean-prosecutors-request-30-year-sentence-for-disgraced-former-president-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/2018\/03\/08\/south-korean-prosecutors-request-30-year-sentence-for-disgraced-former-president-park\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korean prosecutors request 30-year sentence for disgraced former President Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEOUL \u2014<\/span>\u00a0South Korean prosecutors requested on Tuesday a 30-year prison sentence for disgraced former South Korean president Park Geun-hye, who was impeached last year in a sensational corruption scandal.<\/p>\n

The requested term, if granted, probably would be a life sentence for Park, who is 66. Prosecutors also asked the Seoul Central District Court to fine her $110\u00a0million for her alleged crimes.<\/p>\n

The court is expected to deliver its verdict and impose any sentence in late March or early April.<\/p>\n

\u201cPark is the person who is ultimately accountable for this influence-peddling scandal,\u201d the prosecutor told Judge Kim Se-kyoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis scandal left an indelible stain on our country\u2019s history. However, it also gave rise to a meaningful movement among its citizens to reestablish democracy and rule of law,\u201d he said, according to local reports from the courtroom.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"Supporters of former South Korean president Park Geun-hye protest in front of a court after prosecutors sought a 30-year jail term for the ousted president in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 27, 2018. (Yonhap\/Reuters)<\/span><\/div>\n

Park is facing 18 charges including bribery, coercion and abuse of power for her alleged role in a plan to extort millions of dollars from South Korea\u2019s biggest businesses for her personal gain. Her confidante, Choi Soon-sil,\u00a0was found guilty this month<\/a>\u00a0of carrying out the extortion and sentenced to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Park has vigorously maintained her innocence throughout the case and has been refusing to attend her trial, saying she is the victim of \u201cpolitical revenge.\u201d She did not appear in court when the prosecutors argued for the 30-year sentence.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors held up her disdain for the legal process as a sign of her lack of remorse.<\/p>\n

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About 3,000 of the former president\u2019s supporters demonstrated outside the court Tuesday as the prosecution was making its case. Draped in flags, the mostly older demonstrators called the prosecutors \u201ccrazy\u201d and vowed to fight the sentencing.<\/p>\n

\u201cA 30-year sentence is even heavier than what murderers get. It\u2019s so unfair,\u201d Ahn Hyo-min, 24, told the News1 agency.<\/p>\n

Since legal reforms were enacted in 2009, the average sentence for murder in South Korea is 12 years in prison, according to a Kyungpook University study.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of former South Korean president Park Geun-hye, is seen at court in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 13. (Yonhap\/Reuters)<\/span><\/div>\n

The Liberty Korea Party, which emerged from the ruins of the conservative party that Park led, called the request \u201cmore cruel than capital punishment\u201d because it would force the former president to live out the rest of her life in shame.<\/p>\n

Legal scholars said the prosecutors\u2019 request reflected the unprecedented nature of the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty years is the maximum prison sentence that can be handed down in South Korea, short of life imprisonment,\u201d said Rhee Joo-won, a law professor at Korea University. \u201cThe requested sentence is exceptional for any criminal, let alone for a former politician.\u201d<\/p>\n

A guilty verdict and a long jail term would complete the fall from grace of a former political princess in South Korea.<\/p>\n

Her father, Park Chung-hee, took power in a military coup and was president during the 1960s and 1970s. He oversaw South Korea\u2019s astonishing economic transformation from an agrarian backwater emerging from the ashes of war to an industrial powerhouse famous for building ships and electronics.\u00a0But this came at the expense of civil liberties, as Park ruled with an iron fist.<\/p>\n

In 1974, Park Chung-hee\u2019s wife was killed by a North Korean sympathizer. The bullet was meant for the president. Park Geun-hye, his daughter, then moved into the role of first lady until, five years later, her father was assassinated by his own spy chief.<\/p>\n

During that tumultuous period, Park Geun-hye began seeking spiritual guidance from a shaman named Choi Tae-min, who said he could convey messages from her mother in the afterlife.<\/p>\n

Park, who was notoriously reclusive and had become estranged from her siblings, became friends with Choi\u2019s daughter, Choi Soon-sil, around this time and began increasingly to rely on her.<\/p>\n

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The extent of Park\u2019s reliance on Choi became clear in 2016, three years after Park was elected president.<\/p>\n

Journalists uncovered evidence that Choi, who held no official position and no security clearance, was advising the president on issues including her wardrobe, major policy speeches and more. It also emerged that Choi raised about $70\u00a0million from South Korea\u2019s biggest businesses, including Samsung and Lotte, ostensibly for two foundations promoting sports.<\/p>\n

In fact, the foundations were little more than private slush funds, and the donations were bribes for favorable business treatment.<\/p>\n

After months of huge protests at the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, Park was impeached in March last year. She was\u00a0arrested soon afterward<\/a>\u00a0and has been in detention ever since.<\/p>\n

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The same judge who will now determine Park\u2019s fate sentenced Choi to 20 years in prison and fined her almost $17\u00a0million for her role in the scheme. Prosecutors had sought a 25-year prison sentence and a $109\u00a0million fine for Choi.<\/p>\n

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Judge Kim said at the time that Park\u2019s presidential Blue House was the \u201cmain agent\u201d in setting up the bogus foundations to accept the donations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEOUL \u2014\u00a0South Korean prosecutors requested on Tuesday a 30-year prison sentence for disgraced former South Korean president Park Geun-hye, who was impeached last year in a sensational corruption scandal. The requested term, if granted, probably would be a life sentence for Park, who is 66. Prosecutors also asked the Seoul Central District Court to fine her $110\u00a0million for her alleged… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1353,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352\/revisions\/1353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}