S. Korea's first female PM released from jail

World
Europe

S. Korea's first female prime minister was released from prison Wednesday after completing a two-year sentence for accepting illicit political funds.

Han Myeong-sook, now 73, was prime minister for a year from April 2006 under the liberal government of then-President Roh Moo-hyun.

She was the first woman to hold the post of prime minister in S. Korea, and also the first former premier to be put behind bars.

S. Korea's then-President Roh Moo-hyun (R) and then-Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook (L) at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, February 22, 2007. /AFP Photo

A few years later Park Geun-hye – currently on trial for corruption after being ousted in a sprawling scandal – became South Korea's first woman president.

Han was convicted in 2015 of receiving 880 million won (then $760,000) from a businessman in illegal campaign funding for her eventually unsuccessful 2007 bid to secure her party's presidential nomination.

Han has denied any wrongdoing and accused the then-conservative government of using state prosecutors to tarnish her reputation.

She was greeted by politicians and hundreds of supporters as she emerged from a detention center on the outskirts of Seoul early Wednesday.

"There has been insufferable pain during the past two years but I have finally met a new world and I am grateful," she was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

Park Geun-hye (L), South Korea's ousted president, arrives at a court in Seoul, South Korea, August 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Several former presidents have been embroiled in corruption scandals in S. Korea, where politics and big business have long been closely tied.

Former leaders Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo served jail terms in the 1990s for charges including bribery and treason, and ex-President Roh Moo-hyun – the mentor of President Moon Jae-in – killed himself in 2009 after being questioned over graft.

952km

Source(s): AFP