According to Yonhap News Agency 20, the Seoul Central District Court of South Korea issued a first-instance verdict on the same day regarding former President Park Geun-hye ’s National Intelligence Service bribery case and violation of the election act. The court found Park Geun-hye guilty and sentenced her to 6 years and 2 years in prison respectively, as well as the payment of 3.3 billion Korean won (approximately RMB 19.79 million) in restitution. Including the 24 years since the first-instance verdict of the "Crony Affair" case, Park Geun-hye's total sentence has reached 32 years. Park Geun-hye did not attend the court hearing that day.
On April 6 this year, Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison and fined 18 billion won in the first instance for the "Crony Interference in Politics" case. But the prosecutor was not convinced and appealed. In the second-instance final judgment of the case held on the morning of the 20th, the prosecutor requested that Park Geun-hye be sentenced to 30 years in prison. The second-instance sentencing of the "Crony Interfering in Politics" case will be held on August 24.
File photo: Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
At the same time, details of Park Geun-hye’s preparations for armed suppression of candlelight rallies at the end of her administration were also exposed on the 20th. According to the annex to the martial law document submitted by the South Korean Ministry of National Defense to the Presidential Office on the 19th, in 2017, the South Korean Military Aircraft Maintenance Command planned to impose martial law to maintain stability and suppress the candlelight rally with force if the Constitutional Court overturned the congressional resolution to impeach the president. This annex consists of four parts: a phased emergency plan, a garrison order (garrisoning troops to fight chaos), the declaration of martial law, and the implementation of martial law, totaling 67 pages. The attachment shows that the key to ensuring the success of martial law is whether the martial law can be declared quickly and under confidentiality, and measures such as controlling the main roads into the city can be taken in advance. In addition, the annex also details the specific methods of controlling Congress and intelligence agencies during martial law, as well as the plan to implement press controls when martial law is issued. Kim Yi-kyeom, spokesman for the Blue House of South Korea, said on the 20th that considering the seriousness of the matter, he decided to release the documents to satisfy the people's right to know.
