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Choi Soon-sil is wheeled out of the courtroom in the Seoul Central District Court on Dec. 14. Prosecutors are asking for a sentence of 25 years in prison

The first trial ended on Dec. 14 for Choi Soon-sil, the 61-year-old confidante who yielded immense influence behind-the-scenes, has faced a tumultuous year since last Dec. 19, four years to the day after the election of former President Park Geun-hye, 65. The court’s sentencing hearing is expected to take place around mid-January at the latest. Choi, tearfully admitted to a “terrible crime” when she made her first public appearance reporting to prosecutors on Oct. 31 of last year, declared in her final message to the court on Dec. 14 that she had been “unjustly accused.”

In the final hearing that day for Choi’s trial under judge Hon. Kim Se-yoon, presiding over the Seoul Central District Court’s 22nd criminal division, prosecutors and the team of Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo demanded a sentence of 25 years in prison, 118.5 billion won (US$109.0 million) in fines, and 7.79735 billion won (US$7.17 million) in penalties, naming Choi as the “beginning and end of the government corruption scandal, the chief offender in a national crisis that saw a sitting President impeached for the first time in the history of Constitutional government.”

Prosecutors also requested six years in prison, 100 million won (US$92,000) in fines, the return of two bags given as bribes, and 42.9 million won (US$39,500) in penalties against former Blue House Senior Secretary to the President for Policy Coordination Ahn Jong-beom, 58, whom they accused of “cooperating with former President Park and Ms. Choi in the pursuit of private profits to establish his own position as a public official in political service.” For Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin, 62, they requested a sentence of four years in prison and 7 billion won (US$6.4 million) in penalties, accusing him of “using the entrenchment of government-business collusion as an opportunity to undermine Constitutional values.”

Jang Seong-wook, an Assistant Special Prosecutor, said at the trial that the case is “ultimately about the hidden, immoral collusion between political and business figures, and the greed and misdeeds of behind-the-scenes figures taking full advantage of this.”

“It is truly shameless of Ms. Choi to have denied the charges against her throughout the trial and denounced the Special Prosecutor and prosecutors,” Jang said.

Prosecutors for the SK and Lotte bribery and abuse of authority cases also stressed the importance of a stern punishment.

“Ms. Choi followed in the footsteps of the military administration and authoritarian governments by exploiting company issues to reap astronomical gains,” they said.

Choi’s sentencing, which is expected to come in January, is being seen as a preview for the outcome in the trial for Park, who also faces 11 of the 18 charges against Choi. Previous first-trial verdicts against accomplices offer some hint at the results to come: guilty verdicts have already been given in the trials of her nephew Jang Si-ho, former Second Vice Minister of Culture Kim Jong, and Cha Eun-taek. The charges have included coercion involving Korea Winter Sports Elite Center and support for Samsung and Grand Korea Leisure and KT advertising orders.

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was implicated in offering 43.3 billion won (US$39.8 million) in bribes, received guilty rulings on a portion of the charges against him in his first trial.

Choi is also awaiting a Supreme Court ruling in her appeal of a three-year prison sentence in connection with improprieties regarding daughter Jung Yoo-ra’s admission to and studies at Ewha Womans University.

118.5 billion won (US$109.0 million) in fines

By Kim Min-kyung and Hyun So-eun, staff reporters

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