Ex-South Korean president Park Geun-hye arrested
South Korea's disgraced ex-President Park Geun-hye was arrested early Friday local time on charges including bribery and abuse of power, the latest chapter in a dramatic downfall for the U.S. ally, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Prosecutors accused Park of colluding with a confidante to extort from big businesses, take a bribe from one of the companies and commit other wrongdoings. The allegations prompted millions of South Koreans to protest in the streets every weekend for months before the Constitutional Court ruled March 10 to remove her. Park's presidential powers already had been suspended after the parliament impeached her in December.
South Korea's first female president rose to power four years ago amid conservatives' nostalgia for her late dictator father who is credited by supporters for pulling a war-torn country out of poverty in the 1960-70s. Liberal critics reviled her father as a ruthless leader who tortured and imprisoned his opponents.
Prosecutors said they wanted to arrest Park because her crimes were "grave" and because other suspects involved the scandal, including her confidante Choi Soo-sil, already had been arrested.
Park's father Chung-hee was gunned down by his own intelligence chief in 1979, five years after his wife was killed in an assassination attempt that targeted him. Park Geun-hye served as first lady after her mother's death.
South Korea is to hold an election in May to choose Park's successor.
Source: FOX News
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