Prosecution pushes for 30-year jail term for ex-South Korean president Park

Seoul, July 20 (IANS) South Korean prosecutors asked a Seoul appeals court on Friday to sentence former President Park Geun-hye to 30 years in prison over a set of corruption charges that led to her impeachment.

Park was sentenced to 24 years in jail by a court on April 6, Xinhua news agency reported.

The prosecutors also demanded Park be fined $104 million on Park. She was earlier fined $16 million.

Park was accused of colluding with her long-time confidante, Choi Soon-sil, also in custody, to force big conglomerates, including Samsung Group, to donate $68.2 million to two non-profit foundations controlled by Choi.

She was also charged with taking $38.2 million in bribes from Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong in exchange for helping him inherit management control from his ailing father, Chairman Lee Kun-hee.

Park has not appeared in court for hearings since October 2017, calling her trials politically motivated.

The ruling is scheduled for August 24.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)