Prosecution Demands 35 Years Imprisonment for Park Geun-hye in Retrial... "Implementation of Equality Values" (Comprehensive)

Former President Park Geun-hye.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The prosecution has requested a 35-year prison sentence in the retrial of former President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached for the first time in constitutional history due to the state affairs manipulation scandal.

On the 20th, at the sentencing hearing of Park's retrial held by the Criminal Division 6 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Seokjun Oh), the prosecution requested a 25-year prison sentence for bribery charges and a 10-year prison sentence for other charges including abuse of power and obstruction of rights. The prosecution also requested a fine of 3 million won and a total confiscation of 3.5 billion won.

In the previous second trial, Park was sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined 20 billion won for the state affairs manipulation case, and sentenced to 5 years in prison and confiscation of 2.7 billion won for the National Intelligence Service (NIS) special activity funds case.

The prosecution pointed out, "Former President Park used the authority granted by the people as a means to pursue private interests for herself and Choi Seo-won (formerly named Choi Soon-sil)." They added, "In the secret space known as the Blue House annex, she resolved issues with corporate heads, showing signs of collusion between politics and business."

Regarding the special activity funds case, the prosecution criticized, "It was an illegal act between the president and the head of the NIS," and stated, "No citizen can fairly and justly evaluate such secret money transfers."

The prosecution continued, "Nevertheless, former President Park has never admitted any wrongdoing even for a moment, solely blaming others, evading responsibility, and denying judicial procedures," emphasizing, "A sentence must be imposed to realize the constitutional value of equality and to demonstrate that the rule of law is alive in our society."

On the other hand, the defense attorney stated, "Former President Park has consistently denied all charges from the investigative agencies," and added, "Based on this intention, we seek a verdict of not guilty to protect Park's interests." They further said, "There was no intent or awareness of the criminal facts, nor did she instruct any accomplices," requesting a judgment solely based on evidence without prejudice.

The defense also appealed, "Former President Park has worked for the happiness of the people from her childhood until becoming the first female president," and "Everyone knows that before this case, she was never involved in corruption nor did she gain private benefits from the state affairs manipulation." Additionally, they asked, "Please also consider her poor health condition due to prolonged detention until now."

Last year, the Supreme Court remanded the state affairs manipulation case and the special activity funds case back to the Seoul High Court for retrial.

Regarding the state affairs manipulation case, the remand was to separately sentence the bribery crimes committed during the president's term in accordance with the 'separate sentencing for bribery' principle under the Public Official Election Act. For the special activity funds case, the remand was to recognize 3.45 billion won as state treasury loss and 200 million won as bribery among the money received from the NIS.

The retrial court initially assigned the case in September last year and completed the eight-month trial process with the sentencing hearing on this day. The retrial court plans to deliver the verdict on July 10.

Meanwhile, former President Park has refused to attend all trials since October 16, 2017. She did not appear in court on this day and is expected not to appear at the upcoming sentencing hearing as well.