{"id":10469,"date":"2017-03-10T09:07:57","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T09:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/south-korea-president-park-geun-hye-ousted-by-court\/"},"modified":"2017-03-10T09:07:57","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T09:07:57","slug":"south-korea-president-park-geun-hye-ousted-by-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/south-korea-president-park-geun-hye-ousted-by-court\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea president Park Geun-hye ousted by court"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><figcaption>Media captionThere have been scenes of anger outside the Seoul court<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"caps\">South Korea&#039;s President Park Geun-hye has become the country&#039;s first democratically elected leader to be forced from office.<\/p>\n<p>Judges unanimously upheld parliament&#039;s decision to impeach Ms Park over her role in a corruption scandal involving her close friend, Choi Soon-sil.<\/p>\n<p>She now loses her presidential immunity and could face criminal charges.<\/p>\n<p>There have been angry scenes outside the court. Police said two protesters had died. <\/p>\n<p>The court ruling is the culmination of months of political turmoil and public protest. An election must now be held within 60 days. <\/p>\n<p>Ms Park&#039;s office said she would not be leaving the Blue House, South Korea&#039;s presidential palace, on Friday nor making any statement.<\/p>\n<p>Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn has called for calm, saying the government should remain stable to prevent internal conflict from spreading. <\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Reuters<figcaption>Image caption                                      Ms Park has also lost her presidential immunity and can be prosecuted                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At the heart of the drama lies the close friendship between the president and Ms Choi. <\/p>\n<p>Ms Choi is accused of using her presidential connections to pressure companies to give millions of dollars in donations to non-profit foundations she controlled. <\/p>\n<p>Ms Park is alleged to have been personally involved in this, and to have given Ms Choi unacceptable levels of access to official documents. <\/p>\n<p>Parliament voted to impeach Ms Park in December and the Constitutional Court has since been deciding whether to uphold or overturn this. <\/p>\n<p>On Friday, a panel of eight judges ruled Ms Park&#039;s actions &quot;seriously impaired the spirit of... democracy and the rule of law&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>The court said she had broken the law by allowing Ms Choi to meddle in state affairs, and had breached guidelines on official secrets by leaking numerous documents.  <\/p>\n<p>Ms Park had &quot;concealed completely Choi&#039;s meddling in state affairs and denied it whenever suspicions over the act emerged and even criticised those who raised the suspicions,&quot; it said. <\/p>\n<p>But the judges dismissed some charges, including accusations Ms Park had infringed on freedom of the press by creating a media blacklist of cultural figures, and criticism of her response during the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Did a puppy bring down South Korea&#039;s president?<\/li>\n<li>What does this mean for South Korea?<\/li>\n<li>South Korea&#039;s corruption scandal explained<\/li>\n<li>North Korea pounces on Park dismissal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ms Park was already suspended from presidential duties, with the prime minister taking over her responsibilities. <\/p>\n<p>But she must now leave office - and her official residence - and a presidential election will be held within the next 60 days.<\/p>\n<p>She has also lost her presidential immunity so could now face criminal charges over allegations she colluded with Ms Choi.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  EPA<figcaption>Image caption                                      Park supporters turned on police vans outside the court                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As the various twists and turns of the scandal came to light public fury across South Korea intensified, with many staging demonstrations calling for her to step down.<\/p>\n<p>The final decision is being celebrated by many, but as the verdict came through angry scenes erupted outside court.Pro-Park protesters - mostly older conservatives - turned on police. Two people believed to be pro-Park died. <\/p>\n<p>South Korea&#039;s Yonhap news agency reported that one was killed when a loudspeaker fell on them, while an elderly man fell from a police van.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The friendship behind a presidential crisis<\/li>\n<li>The tragedy of South Korea&#039;s first female leader<\/li>\n<li>The career of a trailblazer in South Korean politics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Besides a possible criminal trial for Ms Park, there is also the ongoing prosecution of Ms Choi.<\/p>\n<p>The de-facto head of Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, is also on trial for a string of corruption charges linked to the scandal.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  AFP<figcaption>Image caption                                      Ms Choi (centre) has been accused of bribery and corruption                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Analysts say the protests in recent months have sent a strong signal that the close relationship between politicians and the chaebols - large family businesses that dominate the economy - needs to change.<\/p>\n<p>A new election could change the political landscape of South Korea. But society remains deeply divided.<\/p>\n<p>The moment the judgement was announced, there was cheering in the streets. But there is also pro-Park feeling.<\/p>\n<p>The country is split and nobody quite knows what will happen. One argument is that if a court can remove a president, democracy is not weak.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Getty Images<figcaption>Image caption                                      Distraught supporters of Ms Park wept outside the constitutional court in Seoul after the verdict was announced                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The outcome is uncertain, but polls indicate a leftward shift.  If the government does move to the left, that has consequences for the relationship with North Korea and the United States. <\/p>\n<p>A leftish government might well re-open the industrial complex just inside North Korea, but with South Korean firms and managers. It might also seek more contact with North Korea, running counter to recent US-South Korean policy.<\/p>\n<p>There is also a personal tragedy here. Ms Park is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, the general who seized power in 1961 and who set the country on a route towards industrialisation and democracy. He was assassinated, as was her mother. <\/p>\n<p>She has lived an isolated life ever since, even as president. She has relied on her best friend for 40 years - Choi Soon-sil.  <\/p>\n<p>The friendship has cost her the presidency and an honourable place in history.  It may now put her behind bars. <\/p>\n<p><a rel='nofollow' href=http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-39202936 target=\"_blank\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Media captionThere have been scenes of anger outside the Seoul court South Korea&#039;s President Park Geun-hye has become the country&#039;s first democratically elected leader to be forced from office. Judges<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}