“A stunning and swift fall for the country’s first female leader.” That was how the Associated Press described the vote of December 9, 2016, when South Korean lawmakers impeached President Park Geun-hye while protests that drew millions into the streets raged outside.
Park was the daughter of the late dictator Park Chung-hee, and South Korea’s first elected female leader. She went from the presidency to a prison cell in about four months, and out again by pardon at the end of 2021.
The confidante and the money
The scandal centred on Choi Soon-sil, a close friend who held no official post. Prosecutors said Park gave Choi too much access to government business and helped her squeeze major conglomerates. Park was found guilty of colluding with Choi to receive tens of billions of won from big companies. She was also indicted over funds diverted from the budget of the national intelligence agency.
The fallout reached boardrooms. The affair led to the arrest of the heads of two conglomerates, Samsung Electronics among them. Months of mass demonstrations followed.
In November 2016 Park took what she called sole blame for a “heartbreaking” scandal and promised to accept a direct investigation of her own conduct, amid growing suspicion that Choi had manipulated power from the shadows.
Removal and arrest
Her impeachment trial opened with an accusation that she had “broadly and gravely” violated the constitution. In March 2017 the Constitutional Court formally removed her from office. Park denied any wrongdoing. Later that month she sat through a hearing of nearly nine hours before the judge who would decide whether to arrest her, and left the court visibly fatigued.
She was arrested and tried. In the end she was serving a 20-year term, which the country’s top court upheld in January 2021.
The pardon
On December 24, 2021, South Korea’s Justice Ministry announced that President Moon Jae-in had pardoned her. Justice Minister Park Beom-kye said the pardon was meant “to heal social conflicts and restore the local community.” Moon said the country should “move into a new era by getting over the pains of the past,” and noted that her health had deteriorated badly after nearly five years in prison. She had been hospitalised three times that year with chronic shoulder and lower back pain.
The pardon was politically charged. Supporters and politicians of the opposition People Power party had pressed for it ahead of the March presidential election, while a Gallup Korea poll in November found 48% of respondents against pardoning Park and her predecessor Lee Myung-bak, down from 60% earlier in the year. Lee, also jailed for corruption, was not pardoned at that point.
Park thanked Moon through her lawyer, Yoo Young-ha, and said she would concentrate on her health. The pardon freed her; it did not overturn her convictions.
