Ousted S.Korean President won't appeal for prison term

Seoul   :  Ousted South Korean president Park Geun-hye on Monday decided not to appeal the 24-year jail term handed to her for her involvement in a corruption scandal which had led to her impeachment in January 2017.

Park presented her appeal waiver to the Seoul Central District Court that had handed her the sentence on April 6, although the appeal trial will still go ahead as the prosecution had filed an appeal citing dissatisfaction over the ruling on the very same day, reports Efe news.

Apart from the prison sentence, the court had also imposed a fine of 18 billion won ($16.8 million), after Park was found guilty of 16 of the 18 charges, including corruption, bribery and abuse of power.

Park had stopped appearing before the court since October 2017, citing ill-health.

She was also not present on the day when the sentence was pronounced, and had denounced the trial as biased.

Park's verdict came after her friend and main accused in the corruption scandal, Choi Soon-sil was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February this year and ordered to pay a multi-million-dollar fine.