South Korea's Park arrested over graft
South Korea's ousted president Park Geun-hye was arrested early today over the corruption and abuse of power scandal that brought her down.
The Seoul Central District Court issued a warrant to arrest Park on charges of bribery, abuse of authority, coercion, and leaking government secrets, after a marathon court hearing the previous day.
“It is justifiable and necessary to arrest [Park] as key charges were justified and there is risk of evidence being destroyed,” the court said in a statement.
Park will immediately be taken from the prosecutor's office where she has been awaiting the decision into custody in a detention centre near Seoul.
The former leader was grilled for nearly nine hours in court yesterday as a judge deliberated whether she should be arrested.
Looking grim-faced and pale, Park ignored a barrage of press flashbulbs and did not speak when she arrived at the court earlier in the day, nor when she left.
Being taken into custody will be a dramatic step in the disgrace of South Korea's first woman president, and is a key demand of the millions of people who took to the streets to protest against her as the scandal engulfed her leadership last year.
The former president was stripped of her immunity when she was dismissed from office by the country's top court earlier this month. Park, 65, has denied the accusations against her.
Comments