Chronology of ex-President Park's trials in high-profile corruption case

Politics 11:46 January 14, 2021

SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) -- The following is the chronology of former President Park Geun-hye's trials over a high-profile corruption scandal that led to her removal from office in 2017.

◇ 2016

Dec. 9: The National Assembly votes to impeach Park.

◇ 2017

March 10: The Constitutional Court upholds impeachment and removes Park from office.

April 17: Prosecutors indict Park on charges including abuse of power, influence peddling and bribery.

May 23: The trial for the abuse-of-power case begins.

◇ 2018

Jan. 4: Prosecutors file additional charges, including bribery and embezzlement, against Park.

April 6: The Seoul Central District Court sentences Park to 24 years in prison and a fine of 18 billion won in the power abuse case.

April 23: The trial begins for the bribery case, in which Park is accused of accepting huge off-the-book funds from three former chiefs of the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

July 20: The Seoul Central District Court sentences Park to six years in prison for accepting the illicit money from the NIS and two years in prison for illegal meddling in the nomination process of the then ruling Saenuri Party.

Aug. 24: The Seoul High Court sentences Park to 25 years in prison and a fine of 20 billion won in the power abuse case.

◇ 2019

Aug. 29: The Supreme Court sends her influence-peddling and power abuse case back to an appellate court.

Nov. 28: The Supreme Court sends her NIS bribery case back to an appellate court.

Dec. 10: The Seoul High Court merges the two standing cases.

◇ 2020

July 10: In a retrial, the Seoul High Court sentences Park to a total of 20 years in prison for bribery, abuse of power and other criminal charges, on top of a fine of 18 billion won and a forfeit of 3.5 billion won.

July 16: Prosecutors file an appeal against the ruling.

◇ 2021

Jan. 14: The Supreme Court upholds a 20-year prison sentence and a fine of 18 billion won for Park in the corruption case, dismissing prosecutors' appeal.