Park Geun-hye Receives a Total of 22 Years Imprisonment, Potentially 3 Years Forced Labor

2021-1-18, Tara O

The total sentencing for Park Geun-hye is finalized at 22 years imprisonment, a fine of ₩18,000,000,000 ($16.3 million) and an additional fee of ₩3,500,000,000 ($3.2 million).  She must pay both the fine and the additional fee totaling ₩21,500,000,000 ($19.5 million) in 30 days or face 3 years of forced labor (강제노동) in a hard labor field (노역장).  Park’s total assets are ₩2,239,750,000 ($2 million), most of which is the value of her house in Seoul, which is ₩1,980,000,000 ($1.8 million).

Park Geun-hye stopped participating in the court proceedings starting October 2017, after she realized that South Korea’s justice system was not applying law in a just manner.  Thus, it was the prosecutors who appealed the case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to increase the punishment.  After 3 years and 9 months, Park’s trial, which began on April 2017,  finally came to an end.  This is also 4 years and 3 months after the “gukjeong nongdan” situation, which  was propelled by JTBC’s fabricated “table PC” story in October 2016.  Gukjeong nongdan is based on a newly created word combination that in late 2016 became to mean that Choi Seo-won, a friend of Park, was interfering and running the state of affairs, rather than Park.  JTBC showed a tablet, asserting that Choi’s favorite pass time was to “walk around with the tablet PC and fix Park’s speeches” on it, and asserted that was a proof that Choi was a biseon silse (a legendary flying wizard wielding actual power), who was running the country.  If one asks a typical Korean why Park was impeached, the answer is likely gukjeong nongdan, not bribery or corruption as often repeated in the western press.  It turned out that the speech and other files were loaded onto the tablet on the date JTBC “found” the tablet, and there was no evidence that the tablet belonged to Choi, according to the government’s own forensic report.  Years later, evidence showed that the tablet belonged to a completely different person.  The Moon government did not want this information to surface, even jailing journalists in the process.  Not only was there no proof of gukjeong nongdan, but nowhere in the legal codes does it state that gukjeong nongdan is an impeachable offense.  Park, however, was impeached anyway. 

Shortly after the impeachment, the prosecution charged Park Geun-hye with various crimes, and one case had become known as the “gukjeng nongdan” case.  This is the “bribery” case for Samsung providing access to horses for the national equestrian team, where an athlete was Chung Yoo-ra (정유라), a gold medal winner at the 2014 Asian Games, who happens to be the daughter of Choi Seo-won.  Of note, numerous other companies sponsored national athletes by providing financial and other assistance.  The prosecutors and the judges deemed that the access to the horses by Chung Yoo-ra was the same as Park Geun-hye receiving it, because Chung’s mother was Park’s friend.  This unbelievable “guilty by association” was the justification used not in North Korea, but in South Korea to find Park guilty of bribery and the court meted out sentences.  Another way the courts found Park “guilty” was that Samsung, by providing access to horses (Samsung still owned the horses) to equestrians, there was “implied request.”  This “implied request,” which also by definition means there is no evidence, also found Samsung’s Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong guilty and he was jailed for 1 year.  While it went all the way up to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court returned the case to the lower court.  On January 18, 2021, the judge sentenced Lee Jae-yong to 2 years 6 months of imprisonment and jailed him right away.   The South Korean media also refer to this case involving Lee Jae-yong also “gukjeong nongdan” case.  What this linkage shows is that both are politically motivated trials, and finding one guilty means the other must also be found guilty.  For more on the impact on Samsung, potential control by China and the labor union, as well as the global impact on semiconductors, 5G, and biopharmaceuticals, see here.

With the Supreme Court rejecting the prosecutor’s appeal to increase punishment beyond what was decided at the appellate court, President Park Geun-hye’s final sentencing for the gukjeong nongdan case is 20 years in jail despite having no evidence.  The first time this case went to the Supreme Court, it kicked it back to the lower court, ordering it to split the case in two.  Thus, the 20 years imprisonment was split this way:  15 years of imprisonment for the access to horses and 5 years of imprisonment for the Blue House receiving the National Intelligence Service’s  (NIS) Special Activity Fund.  It has been a practice for the NIS to disburse Special Activity Fund to various government entities, including the Blue House under Kim Dae-jung, Rho Moo-hyun, Lee Myung-bak, and Moon Jae-in, yet Park is the only president prosecuted for what has been a norm.  The court sentenced her to 2 years of imprisonment for yet another case on a charge that she interfered in the appointment of election candidates.  This brings the total years of imprisonment to 22 years, which means she will be jailed until she is 87 years old (year 2039), unless she is released earlier through parole or pardon.

The below is a translation of former Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo’s interview with lawyer Lee Gyeong-je (이경재), who is familiar with the case.  It can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBbaSGfMLK1e9p22zjs0Ksw/community

The Supreme Court dismissed the case of President Park Geun-hye re-appealed by the prosecution on January 14, 2021 and the sentence of President Park was finalized.  In all, she was sentenced to 22 years in prison, ₩18 billion won in fine, and ₩3.5 billion won in additional fee.  President Park, who has been imprisoned for 3 years and 10 months, has to pay a fine and an additional fee of ₩21.5 billion within 30 days.  Failure to pay will result in forced labor in the hard labor field for up to three years.  On January 14, Kim Moon-soo TV had an interview with lawyer Lee Kyung-jae (attorney for Choi Seo-won), who knows the case best.  Attorney Lee also published a book The Supreme Court No. 417 (417호 대법정) dealing with the case of President Park. The following is an interview summary.

Kim Moon-soo (김문수):  …Today’s Supreme Court sentence dismissed the prosecution’s re-appeal.  Although it was obvious that the Supreme Court would dismiss their re-appeal, the prosecutors dragged it out in order to delay.  The validity period of the arrest warrant is 6 months. They were not supposed to extend it by getting another arrest warrant, but in October 2017, they issued an arrest warrant for a separate case and extended her detention.  From this point on, President Park refused the trial and began unspoken resistance.  The Moon administration has to decide whether to pardon or to grant a stay of execution, but (dragged out the case) to use the excuse that “the judgment is not final.”  The excuse was given to the judiciary for not freeing President Park (which is a signal).  Now that the trial is over, they found another excuse, saying, “You must follow the will of the people.”… Just be honest and say they don’t want her to be released from prison. 

Also, it’s inappropriate for Kim Jong-in (김종인) (the de facto leader of the main opposition People Power Party), who doesn’t know the details, to apologize (on behalf of Park Geun-hye).  How can he apologize on her behalf (when he doesn’t know the details and had not even spoken to her)?   They have kept president Park in jail for almost 4 years.  They mobilized an “implied conspiracy theory” to falsely accuse her of bribery.  If one looks closely at the content, anyone can see that it’s wrong.   The whole society is trapped in black propaganda.

How can the “economic community” (경제공동체) theory be valid? [Note: The prosecutor and the judge initially used the term “economic community” to claim that Park Geun-hye and Choi Seo-won are one “common economic entity.”] 

Lee Gyeong-jae (이경재):  The sociology or economics terminology “economic community” is a concept that has no room to intervene in modern law theory.  The prosecutors initially used “economic community” (경제공동체), but must have sensed the term is strange, so then they used “profit community” (이익공동체), then later changed again to “profit sharing relationship” (이익공유관계).  In the Supreme Court ruling, all of these words were excluded.

Kim:  Then how can there be a 20 year jail sentence?

Lee:  Courts mobilized the theories of mind reading and implied conspiracy.  Phone calls and other contacts were deemed as indirect evidence, although there is not even a single piece of material evidence or a single witness to prove the conspiracy.

Kim:  There’s a saying that although Park Young-soo (박영수) was the Special Prosecutor [for a related case of Choi Seo-won], Yoon Seok-youl (윤석열) bares most of the responsibility. 

Lee:  Park Young-soo was the Special Prosecutor, and there were 4 Assistant Special Prosecutors and nearly 30 seconded prosecutors.  Yoon Seok-youl was the head of the seconded prosecution team.  The Special Prosecutor was supposed to do everything, but when I went to the courtroom, it was Yoon Seok-youl’s team that did everything.  When I looked at the records, there were no traces of investigation or interrogation by Park Young-soo or the assistant special prosecutors.  The seconded prosecutors did it all.  Officially, the Special Prosecutor was Park Young-soo, but in terms of content, the Special Prosecutor was Yoon Seok-youl.   Park Young-soo gave a speech at the first trial only, but the rest were done by the seconded prosecutors and the actual program was done by Yoon Seok-youl’s team.  Thus, I filed a complaint stating, “Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo is unconstitutional.”  If it becomes unconstitutional, it will be dismissed at a later retrial.

Kim:  Do you think President Park’s refusal to trial is appropriate?

Lee:  At first, I thought it was not appropriate, but I changed my mind as the trial went on.  Even though we presented our case in the court and submitted enough evidence to confirm the facts, none of them were reflected by the panel of judges.  The prosecutors interrogated President Park 7 to 8 times and the volume [of the interrogation report] is probably well over 700 pages.  She defended herself in detail when the prosecutors interrogated her, but none of her defense is reflected in the trial process… How do you explain this?  This is a tilted court, a revolutionary trial.

Kim:  President Park and I were at the National Assembly at the same time for 10 years.  I know well that she is the furthest from bribery, no matter who you compare her to.  But 20 years for bribery?

Lee:  When the prosecutor questioned Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin (신동빈) about whether [Park] had anything to do with the extension of the duty-free shop license, the prosecutor was lost for words when Shin replied, “Don’t the prosecutors already know that President Park is the cleanest among all the politicians?”  They flatly concluded that what Choi Seo-won received [the access to horses by Choi’s daughter, gold-medal winning equestrian] was essentially the same as if President Park received it.  By implicit conspiracy.  It’s baffling.

[Truncated]

Netizen’s Responses

Here are some Netizens’ comments to the Kim Moon-soo TV interview:

• “Park Geun-hye is innocent”
• “How can people be so cruel and false?”
• “Forced labor?  Is this North Korea???????  It’s just crazy!!!!!!”
• “They’re not even crimes.  Why are the fines/fees so high? They’re (the court) like thieves.”
• “Yoon Seok-youl is unjust.  He’s loyal to Moon.  If you think about it, you shouldn’t support Yoon Seok-youl.  Why isn’t he investigating the nuclear power plant and Moon Jae-in issues these days?  I really wonder about his true identity, whether he is an opportunist or not.”
• No matter how scared they are of the power that be, does it make sense that one punishes someone who didn’t even take any bribes? So many judges and prosecutors are filthy and despicable.  Is there anybody who can do the right thing during the tribulation?”
• The reason the country is in such a sad state is because the opportunist traitors, who are posing as conservatives, offered up the presidency/power to the Left.

For related reading, see:

The Fall of the Rule of Law in South Korea: The Impeachment of Park Geun-Hye, Part I: The Media, the Tablet, Public Sentiment, Gookjeong Nongdan, and the National Assembly

The Fall of the Rule of Law in South Korea: The Impeachment of Park Geun-Hye, Part I: The Media, the Tablet, Public Sentiment, Gookjeong Nongdan, and the National Assembly

A Response to JTBC, Part II: The Truth about the Impeachment of South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye and the Rule of Law

A Response to JTBC, Part II: The Truth about the Impeachment of South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye and the Rule of Law

Intelligence Special Activities Fund Increasing While NIS Core Function is Neutralized, Park Geun-hye Unjustly Jailed for the Fund, while Moon’s Blue House Continues to Receive the Fund

Intelligence Special Activities Fund Increasing While NIS Core Function is Neutralized, Park Geun-hye Unjustly Jailed for the Fund, while Moon’s Blue House Continues to Receive the Fund

Truth Forum Statement on the Impeachment of President Park Geun-hye

Truth Forum Statement on the Impeachment of President Park Geun-hye

A Group with the Goal to Oust Park Geun-hye from Presidency Organized Candlelight Demonstrations, Created Media Narratives, and Filed Accusations, Internal Document Reveals

A Group with the Goal to Oust Park Geun-hye from Presidency Organized Candlelight Demonstrations, Created Media Narratives, and Filed Accusations, Internal Document Reveals

Suppression of Freedom of the Press in South Korea: What’s So Special About a Tablet PC that a Journalist is in Jail?

Suppression of Freedom of the Press in South Korea: What’s So Special About a Tablet PC that a Journalist is in Jail?

Public Statement on the “Byun Hee-Jai and Tablet Trial” by Citizen Watchdog Group

Public Statement on the “Byun Hee-Jai and Tablet Trial” by Citizen Watchdog Group

Samsung in Crisis, Moon Government’s Takeover Attempts and China Threat; Impact on Global 5G, COVID-19 Treatments, World Economy, and South Korea’s Liberal Democracy

Samsung in Crisis, Moon Government’s Takeover Attempts and China Threat; Impact on Global 5G, COVID-19 Treatments, World Economy, and South Korea’s Liberal Democracy