hankyoreh

Former President Park Geun-hye steps out of a prisoner transport vehicle in order to be admitted to a hospital for treatment for a torn rotator cuff in 2019. (Yonhap News)

Former President Park Geun-hye, who is serving a 22-year prison sentence for influence peddling, was hospitalized in November for treatment of a chronic illness and will continue receiving additional medical care requiring hospitalization until early next year.

The Ministry of Justice said on Monday that Park had been scheduled to receive inpatient treatment for about a month, but now requires an additional six weeks of treatment according to various medical specialists.

Accordingly, Park is expected to be discharged from the hospital by the end of January next year “unless she is released [sooner] due to amnesty or suspension of her sentence,” the ministry noted.

Park was hospitalized on Nov. 22 at Samsung Medical Center in Gangnam, Seoul, to treat an existing illness. At the time, she was reportedly hospitalized to observe the progress of her recovery from a previous shoulder surgery and to treat back pain she was experiencing.

It is the third time this year that Park has been hospitalized. Earlier this year, she had close contact with a person confirmed to have COVID-19 and was admitted to Seoul St. Mary's Hospital. On the day of the contact with that person, Park tested negative through a PCR test but remained hospitalized for three weeks due to concerns regarding her age and infection prevention protocols.

In July, Park was once again hospitalized for a month to observe the progress of her shoulder surgery and to treat her back pain. Prior to this, she was hospitalized at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital for more than two months for shoulder surgery in September 2019, and has been receiving outpatient treatment regularly since then.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice held a plenary session of its amnesty review committee on Monday to start selecting special amnesty cases for next year. The review committee meeting runs until Tuesday, but it remains highly unlikely that politicians such as former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye will be granted any kind of amnesty.

By Son Hyeon-su, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]