South Korea’s Supreme Court has confirmed the prison sentence of former President Lee Myung Bak, who was previously sentenced to 17 years in prison for bribery and embezzlement. The national news agency Yonhap reports this on Thursday.
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Lee, who was South Korea’s head of state from 2008 to 2013, was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison in October 2018. In addition to the charges of corruption, he was also on trial for abuse of power and tax evasion. He is said to have accepted bribes from smartphone manufacturer Samsung and worked with black funds.
He was released in March 2019 for his ill health, but was sent back to prison almost a year later after an appeals court increased his prison sentence by two years to 17 years.
His successor as president, Park Geun Hye, has also been incarcerated for corruption.
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