South Korea\u2019s top court upheld on Thursday a 20-year jail sentence for former President Park Geun-hye on graft charges that led to her downfall, bringing an end to the legal process and so for the first time raising the possibility of a pardon.<\/p>\n
![\"rapid-news-rapidnews-South-Korea-court-upholds-jail-for-ex-president-Park-clearing-way-for-chance-of-a-pardon\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rapid-news-rapidnews-South-Korea-court-upholds-jail-for-ex-president-Park-clearing-way-for-chance-of-a-pardon.jpg\")
Park became South Korea\u2019s first democratically elected leader to be thrown out of office when, in 2017, the Constitutional Court upheld a parliament vote to impeach her over a scandal that also landed the heads of two conglomerates in jail.<\/p>\n
The daughter of a military dictator, Park took office in 2013 as South Korea\u2019s first woman president. She was brought down after being found guilty of colluding with a confidante to receive tens of billions of won from major conglomerates to help her family and fund non-profit foundations she owned.<\/p>\n
Her case has been heard in different courts, including a retrial in July last year, but the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling on Thursday to uphold a 20-year jail term and fine of 18 billion won ($16.38 million) exhausts her legal avenues.<\/p>\n
Park, 68, who has been in jail since March 31, 2017, has denied wrongdoing. She was not present in court.<\/p>\n
The end of the legal process clears the way for a presidential pardon, which her supporters called for.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Park Geun-hye is innocent,\u201d the right-wing Our Republican Party said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe members of Our Republican Party want President Park to be freed as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chief of the ruling Democratic party, Lee Nak-yon, has floated the idea of a pardon for Park and another ex-president, Lee Myung-bak, also in jail on corruption charges, in the name of national unity.<\/p>\n
Park is a divisive figure in a country where old Cold War fault lines between right and left can still define political rivalry.<\/p>\n
A top aide to President Moon Jae-in, who is a liberal, said the president would make a decision on the question of a pardon for Park that reflects the will of the people.<\/p>\n
Society appears split down the middle.<\/p>\n
A survey by the pollster Realmeter last week found 47.7% of respondents in favour of a pardon and 48% against.<\/p>\n
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Vice Chairman Jay Y Lee faces a final court ruling on Monday on whether he returns to jail on charges he bribed an associate of Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Korea\u2019s top court upheld on Thursday a 20-year jail sentence for former President Park<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n