2/26/2018 20-Year Sentence for Woman Linked to Former S.

Korean President

AS IT IS

20-Year Sentence for Woman Linked to Former S. Korean

President
February 13, 2018

e woman whose dealings with former South Korean President Park Geun-hye led to her
removal from o ce has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

e Seoul Central District Court announced the sentencing of Choi Soon-sil on Tuesday. e
court ordered Choi to pay a ne of nearly $17 million.

She was found guilty on charges of abuse of power, bribery and meddling in state a airs.

e scandal involving Choi, Park, other government o cials and business leaders led to huge
protests across the country.

As a result, South Korea’s National Assembly voted to impeach Park in late 2016. e Supreme
Court voted to remove her from o ce last year. is led to early presidential elections, won by
current president Moon Jae-in.

e scandal has led to calls for reform of the chaebols, a term for South Korea’s very largest
corporations. Some critics say these businesses have too much in uence over the economy.

In uence over the former president

Choi Soon-sil was accused of having strong in uence over the former president, which some
observers described as a “cult-like” control. e 62-year-old longtime friend of Park held no
government position, but she had in uence over the president’s decisions.

Park and Choi had known each other since the 1970s.

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2/26/2018 20-Year Sentence for Woman Linked to Former S. Korean President

Choi also was found guilty of using her relationship with Park to force large businesses to
donate more than $68 million to two non-pro t corporations she controlled.

Business leaders connected to the case also received jail sentences.

e court sentenced the chairman of the Lotte Group, Sin Dong-bin, to two and a half years in
prison on bribery charges. Sin was charged with giving over $6 million to a group Choi
supported in exchange for state permission to open a duty-free store and other things.

A former aide to Park also received a six-year sentence for abuse of power.

Last week, another person linked to the case had his sentence suspended and was released
from prison.

Lee Jae-young is heir to the wealth of the family that controls much of Samsung Electronics,
one of South Korea’s biggest companies.

Lee was sentenced last August to ve years in prison for bribery and a number of other
nancial crimes linked to the Choi scandal.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Richard Green reported this story for VOANews.com. Mario Ritter adapted his report for
Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in is Story

scandal – n. a case of wrongdoing that shocks many people

bribery – n. the act or crime of paying money to an o cial in order to get something

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2/26/2018 20-Year Sentence for Woman Linked to Former S. Korean President

meddle – v. to become involved in concerns of others when you involvement is unwanted

a airs – n. activities

impeach – v. to bring charges against a public o cial

cult – n. a small, religious group that is not connected to any larger group that is believed to
have extreme ideas

duty-free – adj. selling goods that will not be taxed when taken to another country

heir – n. a person who has the legal right to receive the property of someone a er they die

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