Former South Korean president Park Geun-hye gets 8 more years of jail

Seoul, July 20: South Koreans on Friday, July 20, saw their former president Park Geun-hye, convicted of illegally receiving funds from the country's top espionage agency, being handed eight more years of imprisonment, besides her current term.

The 66-year-old leader who served since 2013, was impeached last year over the scandal and sent to jail this April for 24 years for corruption and abuse of power.

Friday's jail term was issued in her absence after she refused to attend the Seoul Central District Court. It came following a separate trial which was held for taking money (3.3 billion won or $2.9 million) from the National Intelligence Service and also intervening in the selection of the candidates of her ruling Liberty Korea Party.

She was handed six years imprisonment for taking the money besides two years for the election-related offence. It means that Park will have to spend 32 years in prison.

Park, daughter for former South Korean president Park Chung-hee, allegedly misused taxpayers' money for her private purpose besides funding a boutique where her private aide Choi Soon-sil made her clothes and provided other private services.

Choi was also found to have gained from her long ties with Park by means of extorting bribes worth millions of dollars from businesses including Samsung, telecommunication giant, and Lotte, a retail conglomerate.