(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA))
TOKYO, Jan 14 (KUNA) -- South Korea's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 20-year sentence for former President Park Geun-hye, ending one of the country's biggest political scandals that ultimately removed her from office in 2017, Yonhap News Agency reported.
In the sentencing hearing over an appeal filed by prosecutors against a ruling in July that reduced Park's prison term, the country's highest court maintained the ruling, including a fine of KRW 18 billion (USD 15 million) and the decision to clear Park of extortion and part of abuse of power charges.
Park will have to serve 22 years in prison, which includes a two-year prison term for her 2018 conviction for illegal meddling in a nomination process of the then-ruling Saenuri Party.
Given the time that she already served, she will get released in 2039.
Park was ousted from the Presidential Office in March 2017 due to her involvement in the massive abuse-of-power and bribery scandal.
She was also separately indicted the following year on charges of accepting off-the-book funds from three former chiefs of the National Intelligence Service from May 2013 to September 2016 in collusion with her aides.
During the retrial last July, the Seoul High Court sentenced the former president to 15 years in prison for bribery, and an additional five years for abuse of power and other criminal charges.
Park became the country's fourth ex-president convicted of criminal offenses. (end)
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