Here is the latest on the status of former President Lee:
Former President Lee Myung-bak is set to be released from jail later Tuesday, six days after he was put into custody following a court ruling, as he reappealed against the recent ruling.
The release comes after an appellate court sentenced him to 17 years in prison last week on charges of bribery and embezzlement.
He was taken back into custody after he was released on bail on health concerns in March 2019.
Lee, who re-appealed last week‘s ruling, is known to have cited relevant law to get released.
The 78-year-old, who is currently held at a detention center in Seoul, is expected to be let go at midnight.
The Korean left has taken down another one of their boogeymen:
Former President Lee Myung-bak walks towards the Seoul Central District Court to attend his corruption trial on Sept. 6, 2018. (Yonhap)
A Seoul court sentenced former President Lee Myung-bak to 15 years in jail for corruption Friday, making him the fourth ex-South Korean leader to be criminally convicted.
In the live televised trial, the court found the 76-year-old former leader guilty of bribery, embezzlement and other charges. He was ordered to pay 13 billion won (US$11.5 million) in fines and forfeit 8.2 billion won.
Lee, president from 2008-2013, was arrested on March 22 and indicted on April 9. Prosecutors demanded 20 years in prison on 16 counts of charges. The court convicted him of seven charges.
The court ruled that he embezzled 2.46 billion won from DAS, an auto parts company at the center of the scandal. It concluded, on the basis of testimony by Lee’s close aides, that he is the de facto owner of the company, disguising it as his brother’s company.
Lee denied the allegation he was the real owner of the company.
The court also ruled he accepted 5.9 billion won in bribes from Samsung Electronics Co. in the form of retaining fees for DAS.
Samsung paid the money seeking a presidential pardon for Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who was jailed for tax evasion, it said.
Lee was also found guilty of receiving about 2.4 billion won in bribes from a financial company chief, a former intelligence agency chief and a former lawmaker. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but President Lee says the charges brought against him were political retaliation for the corruption investigation brought against former President Roh Moo-hyun during President Lee’s time in office. Roh ended up committing suicide because of the investigation. The Chief of Staff for President Roh was current President Moon Jae-in.
I don’t know if the allegations against Lee are true or not, but what I do know is that the Korean left is happy to put him in jail, while at the same time championing Kim Jong-un, the dictator responsible for killing and injuring dozens of Korean citizens and being a general threat to regional peace. The Korean left even has Kim Jong-un’s image posted on the side of Seoul City Hall.
If Lee Myung-bak has been held responsible for his alleged crimes against Korea, then who is going to hold Kim Jong-un accountable for his crimes? Obviously it will not be the Korean left.
This undated file photo shows former President Park Geun-hye entering a Seoul court. In an appeals trial on Aug. 24, 2018, the Seoul High Court sentenced Park, 66, to 25 years in prison for conspiring with her longtime confidante, Choi Soon-sil, to force Samsung and other conglomerates to donate money to two foundations under Choi’s control. In April, a lower court handed out a 24-year jail term for Park. (Yonhap)
A man received two years behind bars for going to massage parlor ― among other crimes ― leaving his five-year-old son alone in a car.
Chunchon High Court confirmed a lower court sentence for the man, 60, Monday, for child abuse and endangerment.
Court records showed the man had a fight with his wife who demanded child support and left the scene, telling her that she wouldn’t see them. He also attacked his wife with blunt objects.
He took their second son, a five-year-old away in a car, after his older nine-year-old escaped, as he drove away.
The man stopped at a massage parlor in his neighborhood and left the son locked in the car.
Police found the car and the child inside after the wife called them to report the incident.
The child was locked inside the car for nearly two hours. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the man says he went to the massage parlor to calm himself down after fighting with this wife.
Former President Park Geun-hye, who is now in jail over corruption charges, is taken to a detention center-bound vehicle at the Seoul Central District Court on May 25, 2017, after attending a second hearing over a string of corruption charges that led to her ouster in March. (Yonhap)
