Former South Korean President Park Guen-hye Receives Pardon For Corruption

Park Guen Hye Receive Pardon For Corruption: Former South Korean president Park Guen-hye, who was impeached for corruption charges in 2016, has been granted a special pardon. She was the first woman President of South Korea.

The Justice Ministry of South Korea, in its statement, explained why the step was taken to pardon Park Guen-hye. According to them, pardoning her would aim at overcoming national divisions and promoting unity during the difficult time of the coronavirus pandemic.

Another reason being cited is that Park has been hospitalised three times with chronic shoulder and back pain ever since she was arrested. Her poor health might have been a big factor in the decision to pardon her. "I understand that ex-president Prak is included on a list of people who are to be granted pardon," an unnamed official told the Yonhap news agency.

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News reports suggest that Park will be freed on New Year's Eve.

Park was a conservative icon who was removed from her office after street protests against her due to a corruption scandal. She was also accused of meddling in her political party's nominations ahead of the 2016 elections. She was evicted and sent to prison in 2017 and in January, was given 22-years of imprisonment by the Supreme Court.

The main charges faced by her was of collusion with Choi Soon-sil, who held no official position but was her longtime confidante, to take millions of dollars in bribes and extortion money. It was claimed that the two accepted bribes from business groups like Samsung, who reportedly gave them $37 million.

The allegations of the corruption Geun-hye were first broken by the Korean cable TV network JTBC, who found the evidence on the former president in the trash can.

In December 2016, Geun-hye, the daughter of late authoritarian President Park Chung-hee who was an army general and seized power in 1961 through a military coup, was impeached by the lawmakers. Although, she was formally removed only in March 2017, after the country's constitutional court upheld the impeachment. This was the first time a sitting South Korean President was removed from office.

Image Credit: Telegraph