JTBC tablet and speech files
Device
The 2016 broadcast about a tablet tied to Choi, plus speech drafts, is the opening public exhibit. Other Korean outlets corroborated the access story.
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
Notoriety85
Mystery22
Scale70
Evidence80
Legal impact88
Culture75
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Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
What was the Park Geun-hye / Choi Soon-sil scandal?
A 2016–17 South Korean political crisis in which reporting showed that Choi Soon-sil, a private confidante, had used access to President Park Geun-hye to influence speeches, state decisions and chaebol donations. Park was impeached, removed by the Constitutional Court and later convicted. Choi was also convicted.
What were the candlelight protests?
Weekly Saturday demonstrations, peaking in the winter of 2016–17, especially around Gwanghwamun in Seoul. Crowds carried candles and demanded Park's resignation or impeachment. English papers called them a candlelight revolution. The legal removal was an Assembly vote and a Constitutional Court decision, not a street seizure of power.
When was Park removed from office?
The National Assembly impeached her on 9 December 2016. The Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment unanimously on 10 March 2017. She left the presidency that day. Moon Jae-in won the snap election in May 2017.
Was Park convicted in a criminal court?
Yes. In 2018 she was convicted of offences including bribery and abuse of power and received a long prison term, later adjusted on appeal. Moon pardoned her in December 2021. A pardon is not an acquittal; the status token remains convicted.
Who is Choi Soon-sil?
A private citizen and long-time associate of Park, daughter of the late pastor Choi Tae-min. She was not a minister. Courts convicted her for her role in the influence-and-money scheme. English Rasputin metaphors are colour, not a job title.
How does Samsung come into the file?
Prosecutors said Samsung affiliates were pressured to support Choi-linked foundations and that a merger benefited from political help. Lee Jae-yong was convicted, appealed and later pardoned on a separate track. Financial English often led with that chaebol story.
The public evidence is journalistic first, constitutional second and criminal third.
What is thinner is the inner psychology of the Park–Choi friendship — a tabloid temptation, not a missing verdict.
Exhibits
Mir and K-Sports paper
Ledger
Foundation fundraising from chaebol, as charged and later tried, is the money exhibit. It is a court file, not a lesson in solicitation.
National Assembly impeachment record
Document
The 9 December 2016 vote is the parliamentary exhibit. Crowds did not substitute for it.
Constitutional Court decision, 10 March 2017
Court
The unanimous removal opinion is the civic core: abuse of power and breach of public duty, written as constitutional law.
2018 criminal judgments
Court
Park's and Choi's convictions, with later appellate adjustments, are why the status token is convicted.
Candlelight photo record
Press
Saturday images from Gwanghwamun are how English memory holds the winter. They are reception evidence, not the judgment.
How strong is the record?
That Choi had irregular access90
Reporting and courts treated the speech-and-foundation channel as proved.
Constitutional removal98
The 10 March 2017 decision is not in dispute.
Criminal convictions88
Park and Choi were convicted; a later pardon did not acquit.
English metaphor accuracy50
Watergate and Rasputin frames are half-fit reception, not Korean procedure.
Evidence removed a president and convicted the central pair. Clemency edited the sentence, not the finding.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.