South Korean court dismisses President Park Geun-hye

TIL Desk/World/Seoul-Park Geun-hye has become the first democratically elected South Korean president to be forced from office, after the countrys constitutional court upheld a parliamentary vote to impeach her over a corruption and cronyism scandal that could see her face criminal charges.

South Korea now has 60 days to elect a new leader after the courts eight justices unanimously supported the impeachment motion, passed overwhelmingly in December by the national assembly, which accused Park of extortion, bribery, abuse of power and leaking government secrets.

The ruling, delivered live on television on Friday morning amid tight security in the streets outside the constitutional court building in Seoul, will see Park immediately forfeit the executive immunity to criminal indictment she enjoyed as president.

Since news emerged in October that Park colluded with close friend Choi Soon-sil to secure millions of dollars in bribes from the country’s biggest enterprises and allowed Choi, a civilian, to interfere in state affairs, Asia’s fourth-largest economy has been rocked by mass street demonstrations as citizens demanded Park’s resignation.