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The sentencing verdict in the trial of former S. Korean President Park Geun-hye will be announced on Friday, more than a year after she was taken into police custody in a corruption case. The sentencing will mark the final act in a saga that saw Park fall from grace and removed from office.
On the campaign trail in 2012, Park memorably said, "I'm married to the Republic of Korea. I have no children. South Koreans are my family." But what has gone wrong since?
May 31, 2014: Candles were lit up to demand truth behind Sewol ferry sinking disaster that claimed over 300 lives one month ago, in Seoul, South Korea.
Park came under fire in April 2014 over her handling of the Sewol ferry sinking disaster. The president had been absent from the public eye for seven hours after news emerged of the tragedy, which killed more than 300 people. Her plans to deploy the THAAD anti-missile system in 2016 also caused a public uproar, with thousands taking to the streets to demonstrate against the move. Her woes continued late that year when she was impeached over a widespread influence-peddling scandal. She apologized, but that did little to clean up her image.
"I am so sorry for all South Koreans that I created this national chaos with my carelessness when our country faces so many difficulties, from the economy to national defense,” she said.
On March 10, 2017, Park was ousted.
March 12, 2017: South Korea's ousted leader Park Geun-hye greets supporters on her way back home in Seoul.
Park’s presidency reads like a Shakespearian tragedy, so does her life.
She enjoyed a pampered life as the first daughter of long-ruling President Park Chung-hee. After her mother was assassinated in 1974, she became the de facto first lady of South Korea.
She withdrew from the public eye following her father's assassination in 1979, living what she described as "a very normal life," until she made a comeback to politics in the late 1990s.
But the road to political power was far from easy. In 2006, she was attacked during an election rally, but that did not deter her from her political ambition, which eventually led her into the Blue House.
"Since I arrived in the presidential office, I've lived a lonely life,” Park once said.
It will likely get lonelier if she receives a jail sentence.
(CGTN)
