Ousted South Korean leader Park due to go on trial

SEOUL: Ousted South Korean leader Park Geun- Hye is due to go on trial tomorrow over the spectacular corruption scandal that brought her down, the country’s third former president to appear in the dock.

The fallen head of state will be taken from the detention centre where she is being held to Seoul Central District Court, setting the stage for the final act of the drama that has engulfed her.

As well as conservative Park and the multi- billionaire businessmen who allegedly bribed her, the controversy’s cast list includes the daughter of a shaman, plastic surgeons, and an Asian Games gold medallist fencer turned male karaoke host, among others.

As revelation after revelation emerged last year, millions of people took to the streets to demand her removal, culminating in her impeachment by parliament and sacking this March by the country’s top court.

Soon afterwards she was detained and indicted.

Her stunning downfall — when she was elected in 2012 she secured the highest vote share of any candidate in the country’s democratic era — capped months of political upheaval in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

The trial is expected to last for months, and could shed new light on the ties between Park and the bosses of the family-run conglomerates who allegedly bribed her, among them Samsung heir Lee Jae-Yong and Lotte chairman Shin Dong-Bin. — AFP