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| Former President Park Geun-hye in the dock at the Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday. / Yonhap |
By Eom Da-sol
The trial of former President Park Geun-hye started early Tuesday, 36 days after she was indicted for bribery, abuse of power and coercion in 18 suspected crimes.
Park and her confidant Choi Soon-sil faced the court and both denied all charges against them. Park's lawyer Yoo Yeong-ha suggested that "this case of the former President Park is indicted by speculation and imagination, not with proven evidence."
Park is the fourth president accused by the prosecution in Korea, following Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo and Roh Moo-hyun.
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| Former President Roh Tae-woo was summoned to the Seoul Prosecutors' Office on a charge of bribery on Nov. 15, 1995. / Korea times file |
The first ex-president called to the prosecutors' office was Roh Tae-woo, who was subpoenaed on Nov. 1, 1995. He was suspected of accepting 500 billion won ($4.5 million) in bribes, disclosed by opposition party lawmaker Park Kye-dong.
Roh was also suspected of participating in the military coup on Dec. 12, 1979 ― by which Chun took power illegally ― and the violent suppression of the May 18 Democratic Movement in Gwangju in 1980.
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After finishing a 16-hour interrogation, Roh said "I am sorry to the citizens once again," as he left the prosecutors' office. He was imprisoned in the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, two weeks later.
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| Former President Chun Doo-hwan heads to Anyang Prison, Gyeonggi Province, under a prosecution arrest warrant in December 1995. / Korea Times file |
A month after Roh was summoned, Chun Doo-hwan, who was president before Roh, received the prosecution's call as a suspect in the events of 1979 and 1980. But Chun refused to be interviewed.
"The prosecutors are trying to distort history to fit the incumbent President Kim Dae-jung's taste," Chun said. The SPO later arrested him and he was detained in Anyang Prison.
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| Former presidents Roh Tae-woo, center, and Chun Doo-hwan, right, attend their trial in the Seoul Central District Court in August 1996. They were charged over the military coup on Dec. 12, 1979, and suppression of the May 18 Democratic Movement in Gwangju in 1980. / Korea Times file |
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Chun to death and Roh to 22 years and six months in prison. In April 1997, the Supreme Court commuted Roh's sentence to 17 years in prison and a fine of 262 billion won and Chun's to life imprisonment and a 220.5 billion won fine. Eight months later, both received special pardons from then president Kim Young-sam.
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| Former President Roh Moo-hyun leaves the Seoul Prosecutors' Office after being questioned on May 1, 2009. / Korea Times file |
The SPO summoned Roh Moo-hyun in a probe over an allegation that he and his family received bribes from businessman Park Yeon-cha in April 2009. Roh said: "I am very sorry to the citizens and feel ashamed."
The investigation ended when he committed suicide by throwing himself off a cliff in Bongha Village in South Gyeongsang Province in May 2009.
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