FORMER South Korean president Park Geun Hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison yesterday after being found guilty of bribery, abuse of power and coercion.

She was accused of colluding with her friend Choi Soon Sil, who has been already sentenced to 20 years, in extracting tens of millions of pounds from corporate conglomerates.

Ms Park was convicted of bribery, extortion, abuse of power and other charges at Seoul Central District Court.

“It’s inevitable that the defendant should be held strictly responsible for her crimes if only to prevent the unfortunate event of a president abusing the power granted by the people and throwing state affairs into chaos from happening again,” said chief judge Kim Se Yun.

He accused Ms Park of having shown no remorse for her wrongdoing and seeking to pin responsibility on others with “unconvincing excuses.”

The high-profile corruption scandal led to the president’s impeachment in December 2016 and triggered months of massive street rallies across the country calling for her to be ousted.

Ms Park, the daughter of former US-backed military dictator Park Chung Hee, is the third South Korean president convicted of crimes.

The others were former military generals involved in a 1979 coup and a 1980 massacre of civilians.

Her predecessor Lee Myung Bak, who held the presidential office from 2008 to 2013, is currently in detention on suspicion of multiple corruption offences.

He claims to be a victim of “political revenge” and has been refusing to attend court sessions since October.