Park Geun-hye, Choi Soon-sil, JTBC's newsroom, the Constitutional Court, Moon Jae-in and Lee Jae-yong.
The named pair is a president and a private confidante. The institutions are a broadcaster, a court and a successor president.
Chaebol executives sit on a parallel track that English financial pages refused to treat as a footnote.
President of South Korea, 2013–17
Impeached on 9 December 2016, removed on 10 March 2017, convicted in 2018, pardoned in December 2021. Daughter of Park Chung-hee. The convicted status of this dossier is her criminal afterlife, not the pardon.
Private confidante, convicted
Not an elected official. Reporting and courts placed her at the centre of speech-vetting and foundation fundraising. English Rasputin labels are a press habit. The court record is influence and money.
Broadcaster that aired the tablet file
The October 2016 tablet reporting, with other Korean outlets, made the capture story undeniable in public. English pieces that skip the masthead skip the actual first mover.
Removed the president, 10 March 2017
Unanimous upholding of impeachment is the civic exhibit. Street candles did not write the judgment; eight justices did (one seat vacant).
Successor president; issued the 2021 pardon
Won the May 2017 snap election. His December 2021 clemency for Park reopened the accountability argument without quashing the 2018 convictions.
Samsung heir, parallel criminal track
Prosecutors tied Samsung support for Choi-linked foundations to political help on a merger. Conviction, appeal and later pardon made him the global business face of the scandal in FT and WSJ copy.
A president, a confidante, a broadcaster, a court, a successor and a chaebol heir — that is the English-language cast list.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.