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The defendant’s chair sits empty as former president Park Geun-hye refused to appear for her sentencing at the Seoul Central District Court on Apr. 6. The sentencing hearing was broadcast live nationwide

Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye could not shake a harsh sentence of 24 years because the district court ruled that she had received around 23.2 billion won (US$22.1 million) in bribes, representing the gravest charges she was facing. The court convicted Park of 16 of the 18 charges against her, which means that Park has now been punished for the majority of her influence-peddling, first by the Constitutional Court and now in criminal court as well. But the court did find that Park made no inappropriate request to Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, clearing her of the charge of “third-party bribery” with Samsung.

On Apr. 6, the 22nd criminal division at the Seoul Central District Court under Hon. Kim Se-yun ruled that the 7.29 billion won (US$6.8 million) of equestrian support that Samsung gave to Chung Yoo-ra, daughter of Choi Soon-sil, was a bribe received by Park.

“It was atypical for the defendant to ask Lee Jae-yong to buy a good horse for equestrian athletes to prepare for the Olympics when she met him at the ceremony for the opening of the Daegu Center for Creative Economy and Innovation on Sept. 15, 2014, and it would have been difficult for Lee to take this lightly. The Samsung Group, which is the largest conglomerate in the country, allocated an unusual amount of funding to a specific individual at the defendant’s request, and the ultimate beneficiary of that funding was Choi, who interfered in the affairs of state. Those facts in and of themselves are sufficient to prompt suspicions about whether Park was impartial in carrying out her duties as president,” the court said.

Significantly, the court also regarded the cost of the three horses ridden by Chung, namely 3.66 billion won (US$3.4 million), as a bribe. This stands in contrast with the 13th criminal division of the Seoul High Court under Hon. Jung Hyeong-sik, which sentenced Lee to two years and six months in prison suspended for four years.

“When Samsung asked for a consignment management contract to be drafted, Choi Soon-sil lost her temper, saying that Lee Jae-yong had promised to buy horses for them, not to let them borrow them, while Park Sang-jin, former president of Samsung Electronics, said it was no big deal to buy a few horses and told Park Won-oh, a former executive at the Korea Equestrian Federation, to do what Choi wanted,” the court observed, concluding that, both at the time of purchase and afterward, the horses could be regarded as belonging to Choi.

During Lee’s appeal, the court opened itself up to criticism when it ruled that the three horses in question belonged to Samsung and that their 3.66 billion won value had not been a bribe. Critics said that the court had omitted the value of the horses from the bribe to keep the amount of money embezzled from exceeding 5 billion won (US$4.7 million). That is the amount at which additional punishment kicks in, which would have mandated a sentence of five years to life in prison.

This court also admitted the work diary of Ahn Jong-beom, former Blue House senior secretary for policy coordination, as evidence, unlike the court that heard Lee’s appeal. But the court that tried Park’s case exonerated Park on the charge of “third-party bribery” amounting to 22.03 billion won (US$20.9 million) and concluded that there had been no improper request for equestrian funding, just like the court that tried Lee’s appeal.

The court also found Park guilty on charges of asking Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin to donate an additional 7 billion won (US$6.5 million) to the K-Sports Foundation and of asking SK Chairman Chey Tae-Won to pay 8.9 billion won (US$8.3 million) to Widec Sports, which the court regarded as an “implicit improper request.”

“During a private meeting between the defendant and Shin Dong-bin on Mar. 14, 2016, an implicit improper request was made about renewing rights for a duty-free store at Lotte World Tower,” the court said. This past February, Shin was taken into legal custody after the same court sentenced him to a prison term of two years and six months for giving a bribe.

The court reached the following conclusion about SK: “During a private meeting on Feb. 16, 2016, Chey Tae-won spoke about parole for his younger brother Chey Jae-won, who is vice chairman for the SK Group, and about the merger with CJ HelloVision, and the defendant asked for cooperation on the guide runner program. Since the defendant was clearly aware of major issues affecting SK, it is necessary to conclude that she was aware of the quid-pro-quo relationship.”

Park was also convicted on all charges about coercing various companies to donate 77.4 billion won (US$72.3 million) to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, which gave rise to influence-peddling allegations, and having former presidential secretary Jung Ho-seong leak state secrets.

Seven of these charges – including compelling companies to donate to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, leaking state secrets, forcing Hyundai Motor Company and KT to assign advertising to a specific company and forcing Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) to establish a disabled fencing team – overlap with the grounds given for Park’s impeachment.

The court explained the reasoning for Park’s sentence as follows: “It was the responsibility of the defendant to exercise the authority granted by the people to promote the liberty, happiness and welfare of the entire public in accordance with the constitution and the law. Despite this, she conspired with Choi to abuse her position and authority as president, which constituted a severe infringement of companies’ property rights and the freedom of corporate management.”

The court’s criticism is consistent with the grounds for impeachment provided by the Constitutional Court: “By abusing the authority bestowed upon her by the people to help [Choi] pursue her personal interest and then covering up these facts, [Park] severely violated her duty as president to achieve the public interest.”

By Kim Min-kyung, staff reporter

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