Park Geun-hye Trial

[Anchor Lead]

Former President Park Geun-hye’s first court hearing took place on Tuesday morning. The former president was impeached and removed from office in early March on charges of bribery and abuse of power. The prosecution and the defense clashed over evidence.

[Pkg]

The first court hearing into former President Park Geun-hye, who has been indicted for bribery, was held at the Seoul Central District Court at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Its purpose was to check the contentious issues by the prosecutors and Park's attorneys to ensure that the trial proceeds in an efficient way, and to discuss ways to investigate evidence. The prosecutors and Park's attorneys engaged in a heated argument over the admission of evidence. The prosecutors accused Park of meddling in the establishment of the Mi-R and K-Sports foundations and collecting funds for them while being aware of Choi Soon-sil's personal financial interest in the foundations. Park's attorneys rebutted by saying that the collection of funds was well-intentioned and that Park was unaware of Choi's personal interests. Park did not show up for the hearing, as defendants are not obliged to attend preparatory hearings. Prior to the hearing, Park hired three more attorneys in addition to Yoo Young-ha and Chae Myung-sung. The new attorneys include former judge Lee Sang-chul, Nam Ho-jung and Lee Dong-chan. At approximately the same time, the first preparatory hearing was held at the Seoul Central District Court for Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin as well.