On December 9, 2016, lawmakers voted to impeach South Korean leader Park Geun-hye, the 11^th president of the nation and their first woman national leader. As of now she is in custody, and charged with coercion and abuse of power (1). Beforehand, people protested, both in public and all over the web calling Ms. Park to be removed from power.

The reason for Park Geun-hye’s impeachment is because of a suspected scandal/conspiracy that turned out to be surprisingly true. Ms. Park and a longtime family friend of hers, Choi Soon-sil, abused the power of presidency to extort millions of dollars from multiple groups and businesses. To be fair, though, Ms. Park was more or less being manipulated by Choi Soon-sil, as she has strong ties to Park’s family being that Choi is a close friend to Park because she is the successor of an estranged mystic cult called The Church of Eternal Life, previously led by Choi’s father and previous mentor of Park, Choi Tae-min (2). Not only did Ms. Choi extort and manipulate her friend for power and money, but she also got a hold of confidential government documents containing fragile information “…about ministerial candidates and North Korea,” (2). Park also allowed Choi to make governmental decisions (1), based on her belief that she had some sort of magical wisdom or power.

Now, Park Geun-hye is suspended and currently on trial, and Choi Soon-sil has been arrested. If the judge’s approve the decision to impeach Ms. Park, she will be the first official president in South Korea to be deposed, and a new election will be held within the following 60 days of that decision (1).

Sources:

(1): http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38259984

(2): http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37971085

Picture: http://www.india.com/news/world/s-korea-to-begin-trial-of-impeached-presidents-confidante-1712378/