Pardoned ex-President Park heads home from S. Korea hospital

Former President Park Geun-hye is going home three months after being pardoned for one of South Korea’s worst government-corruption scandals

Three months after being pardoned for one of South Korea’s worst government-corruption scandals, former President Park Geun-hye was finally going home Thursday after being released from a hospital.

She slowly walked out of Samsung Medical Center in Seoul as cameras flashed and dozens of supporters shouted: “President! President!”

“I express my greetings to our people for the first time in five years. My health has really improved, thanks to your worries,” Park said. She thanked the hospital’s medical staff and stepped into a black sedan without taking questions.

She then stopped by a cemetery and offered flowers and incense at the grave of her father, slain military dictator Park Chung-hee, and bowed quietly in tribute. She then headed toward her newly built residence in the southern city of Daegu, where supporters laid wreaths of flowers and a huge national flag near her home.

A conservative icon and South Korea's first female president, Park was ousted and imprisoned for bribery and other crimes in 2017 in a stunning fall from grace.

Conservatives left in disarray by her downfall recovered to narrowly win this month’s presidential election, but only after fielding a candidate who had helped send her to jail.

A former prosecutor, President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol was part of a special investigation team that indicted Park in 2017 on charges including bribery, abuse of power and extortion, which established her as the central figure in a massive influence-peddling scandal that also involved a shadowy confidante and a billionaire Samsung heir.

Yoon became prosecutor general under current liberal President Moon Jae-in, who won the election to succeed Park in 2017, but Yoon resigned and joined the opposition last year following infighting over probes of Moon’s allies, which made him a sudden conservative hero.

Yoon, who takes office on May 10, wishes for Park’s quick recovery from her health problems, his spokesperson, Kim Eun-hye, said after her release.

Park had served less than a quarter of her 22-year sentence before Moon pardoned her in December, citing her health problems and a need to promote unity in the face of pandemic-related difficulties.

Park had been treated at the Seoul hospital since November. Officials have refused to elaborate on Park’s health, but local media said she has been suffering from a lumbar disc problem, a shoulder injury and dental problems as well as mental stress.