- Title: File footage of ousted former South Korean president Park Geun-hye
- Date: 20th May 2017
- Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (FILE - OCTOBER 31, 2016) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** PARK'S FRIEND, CHOI SOON-SIL, GETTING OUT OF BLACK CAR AND WALKING CHOI PUTTING A HAND OVER HER MOUTH WHILE BEING SURROUNDED BY MEDIA
- Embargoed: 3rd June 2017 10:37
- Keywords: president politics ousted profile court impeached scandal Park Geun-hye South Korea
- Location: SEOUL / YANGGU, GANGWON PROVINCE / ANSAN / BUSAN / UIWANG, SOUTH KOREA / AT SEA, OFF COAST OF SOUTH KOREA / CHOLSAN COUNTY, NORTH PYONGAN PROVINCE, NORTH KOREA
- City: SEOUL / YANGGU, GANGWON PROVINCE / ANSAN / BUSAN / UIWANG, SOUTH KOREA / AT SEA, OFF COAST OF SOUTH KOREA / CHOLSAN COUNTY, NORTH PYONGAN PROVINCE, NORTH KOREA
- Country: South Korea
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA00K6HT69TX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: South Korea's ousted former president Park Geun-hye will stand trial on Tuesday (May 23) for the first time since she was sent to a holding facility in late March.
Born on February 2, 1952, Park, who was ousted on March 10 this year, was elected to office as the first female president in 2012.
Despite decades in public life, including a stint as first lady after her mother was killed in 1974 by a bullet meant for her father, Park is intensely private.
Park, who was nine when her father took power in a coup, moved out of the imposing presidential palace in 1979 with her younger siblings, was orphaned after their father was shot dead by his disgruntled spy chief at a drunken private dinner.
During her presidential term, she was criticized for mishandling the rescue efforts of the Sewol ferry disaster in April 2014 that killed more than 300 passengers, and questions have persisted about her whereabouts during the seven hours between the first report of the accident and her appearance in the government's emergency room.
In late 2016, Park apologised on television for giving her old friend Choi Soon-sil access to draft speeches during the first months of her presidency, but that did little to deflect demands that Park reveal the full nature of her ties with Choi and whether she enjoyed favours because of her friendship with the president.
Choi is alleged to have used her closeness to the president to meddle in state affairs, and her lawyer has said he expects prosecutors to look into whether she inappropriately received classified documents and benefited unlawfully from two non-profit organisations. Choi is in detention while on trial.
Despite Park apologising three times on television, hundreds of thousands of people turned out in central Seoul for 10 straight weekends to demand Park's immediate ouster. She defied the call and indicated through her lawyers that she would fight impeachment in court.
Park was indicted in a December 9 vote by a wider-than-expected 234-56 margin, setting the stage for her to become the country's first democratically-elected leader to be ejected from office.
Constitutional Court judges on March 10 upheld the parliamentary impeachment vote, making her the first democratically elected president to be removed from office in the country.
Park is now in jail, but denies any wrongdoing. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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