Ousted Park due in court for corruption trial
Print Edition
OUSTED South Korean leader Park Geun-hye is due to go on trial tomorrow over the spectacular corruption scandal that brought her down.
As well as Park and the multi-billionaire businessmen who allegedly bribed her, the cast list involved in the scandal includes the daughter of a shaman, plastic surgeons and an Asian Games gold medallist fencer.
As revelations emerged last year, millions of people took to the streets to demand her removal, culminating in Park’s impeachment by parliament and sacking in March by the country’s top court. She was then detained and indicted.
Her stunning downfall — when she was elected in 2012 securing the highest vote share of any candidate in the country’s democratic era — capped months of political upheaval in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
The trial is expected to last for months and promises to shed new light on the ties between Park and the bosses of the family-run conglomerates who allegedly bribed her, among them Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong and Lotte chairman Shin Dong-Bin.
It comes only two weeks after the country elected left-leaning former human rights lawyer Moon Jae-in, as her successor.
Tomorrow’s opening session will be Park’s first public appearance since she was taken into custody in March.
Park, 65, is the third former South Korean leader to stand trial for corruption following Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, who served jail terms in the 1990s for charges including bribery and treason. Park faces 18 charges including bribery, coercion and abuse of power.
Choi Soon-sil, is accused of using her presidential ties to force top firms, including Samsung, to “donate” nearly US$70 million to non-profit foundations which she then used for personal gain. Choi is currently on trial for bribery and abuse of power, as is Samsung’s Lee.
Park has denied all wrongdoing, blaming Choi for abusing their friendship.
New president Moon has nominated a prominent chaebol critic as new head of the powerful anti-trust watchdog agency.
Park’s trial is seen as issuing a verdict on “many of the deep-rooted problems” clogging the country’s economy and politics, said Chun Yu-ok, a former senior lawmaker of Park’s party.
“The trial should be the first step in our rejection of the dark, corrupt past and the opening of a new era with a fair and just society,” she wrote, “and a stern lesson that no one, however powerful, can be above the law,” Chun added.
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