Ex-S Korean president's jail term extended

An appeals court has extended the jail term of former South Korean president Park Geun-hye by one year in connection to a massive corruption scandal.

On April 6, the 66-year-old leader was sentenced to 24 years of imprisonment by the lower court, after she was found guilty of crimes ranging from bribery to coercion, abuse of power and the leaking of state secrets. She was also slapped with a fine of 18 billion won.

During the trial on Friday, on the one hand, the appeals court extended her jail term by one more year and raised her fine to 20 billion won. The prosecutors had been demanding for a 30-year jail term and a 118.5 billion-won fine for Park, Yonhap News Agency reported.

On the other hand, the court increased the fine of Park's long-time friend Choi Soon-sil from 18 billion won to 20 billion won. The former South Korean president's chief policy aide Ahn Jong-beom's prison term was also increased from one year to five years, while reducing his fine from 100 million won to 60 million won.

Both Choi and Park were charged for forcing big conglomerates, including Samsung, to donate 77.4 billion won to two foundations under the former's control, the report said.

In December 2016, Park, who was South Korea's first female president, was impeached by the National Assembly after the scam was unearthed. Subsequently, a Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment, thereby removing her from power in March last year.