Court adds 8-year jail term to Park Geun-hye

Prosecutors originally demanded a 15-year imprisonment for Park on charges of the loss of state funds and political interference.

The district court said the plaintiff abused her presidential power in accepting the NIS funds, which shook the foundation of state budget execution that should be strictly conducted.

The court said Park denied her crimes though she was responsible for the longstanding, massive loss of state funds, noting that the illegal political intervention damaged a representative democracy.

Earlier in the day, prosecutors asked a separate appeals court to sentence Park to 30 years in jail over the corruption scandal that triggered massive candlelit rallies resulting in her impeachment.

Park was sentenced to 24 years in jail in the lower court's ruling on April 6, but prosecutors appealed to the court for sentencing the impeached president to the 30-year imprisonment.

Prosecutors demanded a fine of 118.5 billion won (104 million US dollars) for Park. The lower court ordered a fine of 18 billion won (16 million US dollars).

Park was accused of colluding with her decades-long friend, Choi Soon-sil who was at the center of the corruption scandal, to force big conglomerates, including Samsung Group, to donate 77.4 billion won (68.2 million US dollars) to two nonprofit foundations controlled by Choi.

Park was also charged with taking 43.3 billion won (38.2 million US dollars) in bribe from Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong in exchange for helping Lee inherit the management control from his ailing father, Chairman Lee Kun-hee.

Park has not been present in court hearings since October last year, calling her trials politically motivated.

The appeals court's verdict would be delivered on Aug 24.