SEOUL, South Korea — Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s impeached and ousted president, was sentenced on Friday to 24 years in prison on bribery and other charges in a case that exposed the entrenched, collusive ties between the government and huge conglomerates like Samsung.

The conviction and sentencing represented a climactic moment in an influence-peddling scandal that drew hundreds of thousands of South Koreans into the streets demanding Ms. Park’s resignation and shook the country’s political and business worlds.

Ms. Park — the conservative daughter of a past dictator — is the country’s first former leader to be convicted of crimes since two former military-backed presidents were found guilty of sedition and corruption in the 1990s. Ms. Park’s conviction on bribery, coercion, abuse of power and other charges was the first lower-court ruling on a criminal case to be broadcast live in South Korea.

Many viewed her conviction as a giant step forward for South Korea’s democracy, raising hopes that the country would tackle the corruption that accompanied its impressive economic rise. But there are fears that no true reform is possible until the country’s powerful conglomerates are held to better account for serious white-collar crimes like bribery.</s>SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — North Korea on Saturday called disgraced former South Korean President Park Geun-hye a “traitor” responsible for “extra-large hideous corruption,” in its first reaction to the sentencing of Park to 24 years in prison on corruption charges.

The insults carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency came a day after the Seoul Central District Court found Park guilty on a variety of charges, including abusing her power and taking tens and millions of dollars from companies in bribes and through extortion. She had been under arrest since March last year.

The relations between the Koreas were terrible while the conservative Park was in office as she took a hard line after the North accelerated its nuclear weapons and missile tests in 2016.

For years, North Korea’s state media used extremely violent and sexist language to criticize Park, calling her a “prostitute” for the United States and a “murderous demon” destined to meet “a sudden and violent death.” In June last year, North Korea vowed to execute Park and her spy chief, accusing them of planning to assassinate the North’s supreme leadership, an allegation the South’s National Intelligence Service denied.

Millions of South Koreans protested for Park’s ouster before an opposition-controlled parliament voted to impeach her in December 2016. Park was formally removed from office and arrested in March last year. She called her trial political revenge and declined to attend court sessions.

Park still has her supporters — most of them in their 50s, 60s and 70s — who spent the past year passionately rallying for her release. Thousands of pro-Park supporters angrily but peacefully marched near Seoul’s presidential palace on Saturday, swinging South Korean and U.S. flags and denouncing the court’s verdict as “judicial murder.”</s>Former South Korean President Sentenced To 24 Years In Prison

A South Korean court has found former President Park Geun-hye guilty on multiple counts of abuse of power, bribery and coercion and sentenced her to 24 years in prison.</s>A South Korean court has sentenced disgraced ex-President Park Geun-hye to 24 years in prison over corruption scandal

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court has sentenced disgraced ex-President Park Geun-hye to 24 years in prison over corruption scandal.</s>Park's conviction brings to close a corruption scandal which gripped South Korea, upending the country's politics and implicating some of the country's most powerful figures.

"The President abused the power which was given to her by the citizens," the judge said, adding a tough sentence was needed to send a firm message to the country's future leaders. Prosecutors had asked for Park to receive a 30 year sentence.

Park, 66, was found guilty of 16 of the 18 charges she faced, related to a massive influence-peddling case that removed her from office last year. As well as the prison sentence she was also fined $17 million.

The former president was not in the Seoul Central District Court to hear the verdict. Park and her lawyers refused to participate after the court decided to live broadcast the judgment, the first time this has happened in South Korea, after a law was passed last year to enable it.

Park lawyer's are expected to appeal her sentence. Outside the court, hundreds of supporters of Park had gathered to watch the verdict on a large screen, waving Korean and US flags and calling for the former president's release. Older, conservative South Koreans, who remembered the dictatorship of Park's father fondly as a period of strength for the country, were her electoral base and a common sight throughout the impeachment process. Supporters of Park reacted with outrage and anger after she was sentenced to 24 years in prison. K-drama or K-politics? Death, dynasties and disaster in the Blue House South Korea's first female president, and the daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee, Park Geun-hye was arrested in March 2017 shortly after she was stripped of her office by the country's Constitutional Court, which upheld a parliamentary vote to impeach her. That vote came after millions of South Koreans took to the streets over a period of several months to demand Park's ouster, after revelations of the alleged massive influence wielded by her adviser and confidant, Choi Soon-sil. Choi, the daughter of a cult leader once accused of having "complete control over Park's body and soul during her formative years," held no political office but is accused of using her influence over the President to funnel money to organizations she controlled and get her daughter a place at an elite university. Park was accused of being unduly influenced by Choi. The court which upheld her impeachment agreed with accusations that Park had abused her authority in helping Choi raise donations from companies for foundations she had set up. In February, Choi was sentenced to 20 years in jail on 18 charges including abuse of power, coercion, fraud and bribe, and fined $16.6 million. Also implicated in the scandal was Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong. The 49-year-old billionaire was found guilty of bribery and other corruption charges last year and sentenced to five years in prison, but in February a higher court reduced his sentence and suspended it for four years.</s>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean judge finds former President Park Geun-hye guilty of abuse of power and coercion; sentencing still to come .</s>Billy is the editor of Verdict. You can reach him at billy.bambrough@verdict.co.uk

South Korea has today found former President Park Geun-hye guilty of bribery over a scandal that’s rocked the country’s political and corporate establishment and uncovered close ties between the two.

Park Geun-hye has been sentenced to 24 years in prison, drawing a line under the saga that has gripped the country for over a year.

The court ruled — in a live broadcast of the trial — that Park colluded with her friend Choi Soon-sil to receive tens of billions of won from some of the country’s biggest conglomerates.

Payments from the likes of tech giant Samsung and the country’s fifth largest conglomerate Lotte were used to help Choi’s family and fund non-profit foundations she owned.

Park, who is 66, has denied any wrongdoing, pleading not guilty, and was not present in court — as for most of her trial — though she has been held in the country for more than a year.

Park is South Korea’s first democratically-elected president to be removed from office and corruption has tainted the office of South Korea’s leader for the past few years.

Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year jail sentence and an £80 million fine for the charges that included bribery, abuse of power, and coercion.

Park, the daughter of a former military dictator, returned to the presidential mansion in 2012 as the country’s first woman leader, more than three decades after she left it following the assassination of her father.

Choi She was jailed for 20 years in February while the chairman of the Lotte, Shin Dong-bin, was jailed for two years and six months.

Samsung Group heir Jay Y Lee was jailed for a similar term on charges of bribery and embezzlement but an appeals court freed him after a year in detention in February.</s>A South Korean court has sentenced former President Park Geun-hye to 24 years in prison after she was found guilty of corruption.

The disgraced former president was found guilty of several corruption charges, abuse of power and coercion in a verdict issued on Friday. She was also fined $16m.

It was alleged in the trial that Park, 66, colluded with a friend, Choi Soon-sil, and a former presidential aide, in pressuring big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back her policy initiatives.

She was also charged for soliciting bribes from the head of the Samsung Group for government favours.

Park was acquitted in at least two of the charges, including abuse of power relating to forcing Hyundai automobile company to run ads for the company owned by Choi.

The sentencing phase of the trial is under way.

South Korean state news agency Yonhap reported that Park did not appear in the sentencing trial.

She has been in prison for more than a year, but has refused to appear in court for most of her hearings.

Park is the third former South Korean leader to stand trial for corruption.

In December 2016, South Korean lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to impeach Park, but she refused to resign offering instead an apology while denying any legal wrongdoing.

Three months later, the eight-member Constitutional Court then voted unanimously to remove her from office.

She was charged and detained soon after her dismissal from office.

She is the daughter of another president, Park Chung-hee, who seized power in 1961 and was assasinated eight years later.</s>Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye has been found guilty of bribery, abuse of power, and coercion. She was sentenced to 24 years in prison, though prosecutors initially requested 30 years.

The former leader previously denied any wrongdoing, and the sentence was announced in her absence. Park was accused of colluding with her friend Choi Soon-sil, who had been already sentenced to 20 years, in taking tens of millions of dollars from conglomerates.

The high-profile graft scandal led to the president’s impeachment in December 2016, and triggered massive protests across South Korea both supporting and condemning Park.</s>Seoul: South Korea's disgraced former president Park Geun-hye was jailed for 24 years Friday for corruption, closing out a dramatic fall from grace for the country's first woman leader who became a figure of public fury and ridicule.

A trial which lasted more than 10 months ended with Park being found guilty on multiple criminal charges, including bribery and abuse of power.

Park's successor described the sentencing as a "heartbreaking event" for both the nation and the ex-leader herself.

"The accused abused the power bestowed by the people — the true ruler of this country — to cause chaos in national administration," said Judge Kim Se-yoon.

"Despite all these crimes the accused denied all the charges against her, displayed no remorse and showed an incomprehensible attitude by blaming Choi and other ... officials," he said, referring to Park's secret confidante and long-time friend Choi Soon-sil.

Park, 66, was convicted of receiving or demanding more than $20 million from conglomerates, sharing secret state documents with Choi, ordering officials to stop offering state subsidies to "blacklisted" artists critical of her policies, and firing officials who resisted her abuses of power.

The wide-ranging corruption scandal exposed shady links between big business and politics in South Korea, prompting massive street protests against Park last year.

But on Friday the ruling was greeted with dismay in streets outside the courtroom by several hundred flag-waving Park supporters.

Many protesters sat on the pavement in tears while others began a protest march.

"The rule of law in this country is dead today," said Han Geun-hyung, a 27-year-old Park supporter.

Park herself was not in court for Friday's judgement which, in a rare move, was broadcast live on television. She had boycotted most sessions of the trial in protest at being held in custody.

She now has seven days in which to file an appeal.

Park becomes the third former South Korean leader to be convicted on criminal charges after leaving office, joining Chun Doo-whan and Roh Tae-woo, who were both found guilty of treason and corruption in the 1990s.

Park's presidential predecessor Lee Myung-bak is currently in custody as prosecutors investigate multiple corruption charges involving him and his relatives.

Judge Kim Se-yoon said he had passed a tough sentence to "prevent such an unfortunate event from happening again".

The presidential Blue House said in a statement after the verdict: "Each person must have different feelings about former president Park Geun-Hye. But a bleak wind blew through the hearts of all of us today."

"It is a heartbreaking event for the nation as well as for the person's life. A history that is not remembered is bound to be repeated. We will not forget today."

Park, the daughter of dictator Park Chung-hee, lost both her parents to assassins. She took office in 2013 as a conservative icon who cast herself in the role of the daughter of the nation — incorruptible and beholden to none.

Less than four years later, she was impeached, stripped of all her powers and ousted from office on the back of months-long mass protests that brought millions onto the streets of Seoul and other cities.

The trigger was a snowballing graft scandal involving Park and Choi and accusations of graft, influence-peddling and taking bribes from corporate bigwigs in exchange for policy favours.

Much of the public anger was focused on Park's relationship with Choi and accusations that she let her childhood friend — who held no formal position or security clearance — meddle in state affairs, including high-level appointments and editing official speeches.

Choi is the daughter of a shadowy religious figure who had served as a mentor to Park for decades until his death in 1994. She was tried separately and sentenced in February to 20 years in prison.

Condemned in the media for her "Rasputin-like" influence over Park, Choi was convicted of using her presidential ties to squeeze tens of millions of dollars out of major South Korean businesses, including Samsung — the world's top smartphone maker — and retail giant Lotte.

Former leaders Chun and Roh received presidential pardons after each spent around two years in jail — a privilege that may elude Park for many years, said Jeong Han-wool, an analyst at the Seoul Hankook Research think-tank.

"Park has denied all charges against her and expressed no remorse or atonement — legally as well as politically — for what's probably the most shocking political scandal in our modern history," Jeong told AFP.

"Given her attitude and public anger over her scandal that remains raw, it will be difficult to create a political environment in favour of her release anytime soon."

Park's left-leaning successor, Moon Jae-in, came to power largely because of the public backlash against her and her conservative party, dimming hopes for a pardon under the current administration, he added.

There is some residual sympathy for Park among her core supporters, who have always seen her as a heroically tragic figure who devoted her life to the service of her country despite childhood tragedy.

The fact that she never married or had children was part of her appeal, given the nepotistic tendencies of many senior officials.

"I'm married to the Republic of Korea. I have no children. South Koreans are my family," she once declared.

But for the vast majority of Koreans, she has now been permanently disowned and will go down in history, not as the country's first woman president, but the first democratically-elected leader to be forced from office.
Former President of South Korea Park Geun-hye is sentenced to 24 years in prison and an ￦18 billion fine for bribery, coercion, and abuse of power, among other charges.