The story is informal power exposed by journalism, then removed by constitutional procedure and punished in criminal court.
The public images are a tablet, a candle and a court bench — not a battlefield.
Beats
- A tablet and a confidante
In October 2016 JTBC and other Korean outlets showed Choi Soon-sil's reach into Park's speeches and into chaebol fundraising. The presidency became a capture story.
- Saturdays at Gwanghwamun
Candlelight crowds grew through November and December. English cameras arrived. The demand was resignation or impeachment, not a new junta.
- Nine December 2016
The National Assembly impeaches Park. She is suspended. The Constitutional Court takes the file.
- Ten March 2017
The Court upholds impeachment unanimously. Park leaves office. A May election brings Moon Jae-in to the Blue House.
- Convictions, then a pardon
Park and Choi are convicted. Lee Jae-yong's chaebol track runs beside them. Moon pardons Park in December 2021. Clemency does not rewrite the verdicts.
The Park–Choi story is a convicted civic scandal: candles in the street, a court in the middle and a pardon at the end.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.