South Korea’s former president Park Geun-Hye arrested

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | South Korea’s ousted president Park Geun-Hye was arrested early Friday over the corruption and abuse of power scandal that brought her down.

The Seoul Central District Court issued a warrant to arrest Park on charges of bribery, abuse of authority, coercion, and leaking government secrets, after a marathon court hearing the previous day.

“It is justifiable and necessary to arrest (Park) as key charges were justified and there is risk of evidence being destroyed,” the court said in a statement.

Park will immediately be taken from the prosecutor’s office where she has been awaiting the decision into custody in a detention centre near Seoul.

The former leader was grilled for nearly nine hours in court Thursday as a judge deliberated whether she should be arrested.

Looking grim-faced and pale, Park ignored a barrage of press flashbulbs and did not speak when she arrived at the Seoul Central District Court earlier in the day, nor when she left.

Being taken into custody will be a dramatic step in the disgrace of South Korea’s first woman president, and is a key demand of the millions of people who took to the streets to protest against her as the scandal engulfed her leadership last year.

The former president was stripped of her immunity when she was dismissed from office by the country’s top court earlier this month. Park, 65, has denied the accusations against her.

Choi Soon-Sil, Park’s secret confidante at the heart of the scandal, is already on trial for forcing top local firms including tech giant Samsung to “donate” nearly $70 million to non-profit foundations which she allegedly used for personal gain.

Ahead of the hearing, prosecutors submitted around 120,000 pages of documents to the Seoul Central District Court relating to the charges against Park, and said it would be “counter to the principle of fairness” if she was not arrested.

“The accused is denying most of the charges, and there is a risk of destroying evidence in the future,” they said.

Park becomes the third former leader to be arrested over corruption in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, where politics and big business have long been closely tied.

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-Yong, who was arrested last month in connection to the scandal, was in court for over seven hours for his hearing, and his detention was approved early the following day.

Opposition lawmakers had called Thursday for Park’s arrest.

“The least she can do as the ex-president who damaged national dignity is to admit her criminal acts, bow her head and seek forgiveness,” said a spokesman for the main opposition Democratic Party.

An election to choose her successor will be held on May 9. Moon Jae-In, her rival in 2012 and a former Democratic Party leader leads opinion polls by large margins.

– ‘Sleepness nights’ –

Park, daughter of late dictator Park Chung-Hee, secured the largest vote share of any candidate in the democratic era when she was elected in 2012.

But she was impeached by parliament in December, as the scandal combined with mounting economic and social frustrations to trigger huge candlelit demonstrations. The Constitutional Court later upheld the decision.

Last week she underwent a 21-hour interrogation session at the prosecutors’ office, having refused repeated requests to be interviewed while in power.

She had been “lost for words” when authorities asked for her arrest, the Chosun Ilbo daily quoted an unidentified pro-Park lawmaker as saying.

Another said she had been having “sleepless nights and skipping meals” since moving out of the presidential palace.

Park allegedly offered governmental favours to top businessmen who enriched Choi, including Samsung’s Lee.

She is also accused of letting her friend, a high school graduate with no title or security clearance, handle a wide range of state affairs including nomination of top officials.

Park is also said to have cracked down on thousands of artists who had voiced criticisms of her or her father’s iron-fisted rule from 1961 to 1979.

She has repeatedly apologised for the upset caused by the scandal but not admitted any wrongdoing, blaming Choi for abusing their friendship.