South Korea's highest court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced former President Park Geun-hye to 20 years in prison for bribery and other corruption charges.
The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed the 15-year prison term for bribery and an additional five years for abuse of power and other charges handed down by an appellate court in July last year.
In a retrial of the influence-peddling scandal that led to the ouster of Park in 2017, the lower court reduced the ex-president's sentence from 30 years and 20 billion won in fines to 20 years and 18 billion won.
The ruling came following the Supreme Court's decision to remand the bribery and other corruption cases back to the lower court in August 2019, ordering that the bribery charge be retried separate from the others.
The top court had also cleared Park of an extortion charge in regards to forcing conglomerates to make donations to two foundations run by her confidante Choi Soon-sil.
Park will have to serve a total of 22 years in prison, including two years for her 2018 conviction for illegally meddling in the nomination process of the then-ruling Saenuri Party ahead of the 2016 general elections.