Change required to end South Korean presidential scandals
With his predecessor Park Geun-hye the latest to be jailed, Moon Jae-in faces a challenging political system where constitutional reform may prove difficult
There is surely nothing more shameful for a nation and its political system than for its leader to be jailed for serious crimes. The 24-year term handed down last week to South Korea’s former president Park Geun-hye for corruption therefore closes a sorry chapter in the country’s history. The ruling was broadcast live on television, an unprecedented move explained by authorities as being in the national interest. It was a necessary decision given widespread sentiment for a shake-up of politics and big business.
The tough sentence for Park, the country’s first woman leader and president to be impeached, was understandable given the scale and scope of her wrongdoing. She was found guilty of 16 out of 18 charges, most relating to bribery and coercion.
North Korea calls South’s jailed ex-president Park a ‘traitor’
They revealed the flaws of the 1987 democratic constitution, which has now failed to prevent five of the past six democratically elected presidents from falling from grace.
She joins Lee Myung-bak, charged last month with corruption while in office, Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, convicted for treason and corruption in the 1990s, and Roh Moo-hyun, who killed himself in 2009 while being investigated for graft.
At the heart of Park’s case was her giving childhood friend, Choi Soon-sil, power and influence. The pair colluded to pressure conglomerates such as Samsung and Lotte to give huge donations to foundations run by Choi, who was earlier jailed for 20 years.