Park Geun-hye: Court ousts South Korea’s scandal-hit president

Hwang spoke following clashes with police that broke out outside the nation’s highest court after a panel of judges voted unanimously to uphold a legislative impeachment of Park.

Park also now has the dubious distinction of being the nation’s first democratically elected leader to be expelled from the Blue House.

But Park denied everything. The next South Korean leader will have to face grave challenges including a stagnant economy and a looming threat of attack from the hostile neighbour, North Korea.

“It was a such an obvious case that there was no room for the court to rule other than impeaching the president”, said Kim Seon-taek, a professor of constitutional law at Korea University.

“The removal of the claimee from office is overwhelmingly to the benefit of the protection of the constitution”.

Impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye listens to a reporter’s question during a meeting with a selected group of reporters in January. Park has repeatedly refused to be interviewed by prosecutors over the scandal in recent months, but that will be harder to do if prosecutors have an arrest warrant.

It is not clear when prosecutors will try to interview her.

The decision to uphold the impeachment of a President is a first in South Korea’s history. Ms Park has not made a public statement on her removal.

The court announced its plan on Wednesday to make a final ruling on the impeachment motion on Friday.

Today’s announcement from Constitutional Court puts an end to a three-month legal process and puts South Korea in “presidential election mode”, an expert said.

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea is home to several top candidates, including Mr Moon Jae In, 63, who lost to Ms Park by 3 percentage points in 2012. The populace is divided by Park’s corruption and ouster. A speaker on a bus fell on the man’s head, NPR reported.

Ms Park had been suspended from presidential duties since December, with the country’s prime minister taking over her responsibilities.

“We won, we won”, they chanted, waving banners. She will be under protection of guards for five years instead of ten years. “My heart is full of emotion and I am very happy”. Many are also calling for the president to be prosecuted – and potentially jailed – for her crimes.

“As much as our position pertaining to national security should remain unwavering regardless of the domestic political situation, we will continue to maintain steady preparedness in close cooperation with our diplomatic and security agencies with regards to North Korea”, government officials in Seoul said.