Impeached President Of South Korea Park Geun-Hye Freed After 5 Years In Prison

Park Geun Hye Freed: On December 31, today, the former President of South Korea was set free after four years and nine months of imprisonment following her impeachment and corruption charges. Considering her poor health, the first woman president of the country was pardoned by the current President Moon Jae-in and as promised was set free on New Year's Eve.

Park can reportedly avail of government security but will not be given any other presidential privileges assigned to a former president of South Korea like special pensions. Park has been freed but she is still in the hospital. Her private home in southern Seoul, the capital of South Korea was auctioned off as part of her "forfeiture."

A week ago, the Justice Ministry of South Korea explained the pardon to Park as an aim to overcome national divisions and promote unity at the time of the coronavirus pandemic. Another reason for this move was Park's health conditions. She was hospitalised thrice with chronic shoulder and back pain.

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Park is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, who is the late authoritarian President and an army general who seized power in 1961 through a military coup. Park was the first sitting president to be removed from office.

Park is a conservative icon and was removed from office because of the corruption charges on her and her confidante Choi Soon-sil. In 2016, she was accused of meddling with candidacy ahead of the 2016 elections. Both of them were accused of accepting bribes from business groups like Samsung, amongst others, amounting to $37 million. Park was evicted and sent to prison in 2017 and in January, she was given 22-years of imprisonment by the Supreme Court. Read more about her case here.

After her release was declared, her supporters reportedly rallied near the hospital to celebrate her release and wished her good health. The presidential candidate for PPP Yoon Suk-yeol told reporters there that he hopes to visit Park after she gets a little better, health-wise.

Yoon is a former prosecutor who headed the investigation of Park's corruption scandal in 2016, which lead to her impeachment and then imprisonment. Yoon also said that the government should grant a pardon to former President Lee Myung-bak too, who is serving 17-years imprisonment for embezzlement and bribery charges.