A South Korean appeals court sentenced former President Park Geun-hye to 25 years in jail last Friday in a case arising from a far-reaching corruption¹ scandal that toppled her from power in 2017.

上周五，韩国一家上诉法院判处该国前总统朴槿惠25年监禁。这是一起因一场影响深远的腐败丑闻而被判入狱的案件，该丑闻使朴槿惠在2017年下台。

Park became South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be forced from office when the Constitutional Court removed her over a scandal that landed the heads of two conglomerates² in jail.

当时因为一桩丑闻，宪法法院解除了她的职务，朴槿惠由此成为了韩国首位被赶下台的民主选举领导人。同时两家企业集团的领导人也被关进了监狱。

The Seoul High Court found that Park colluded with her friend, Choi Soon-sil, to receive tens of billions of won from major conglomerates to help Choi's family and fund non-profit foundations owned by her, according to the court documents.

据法庭文件显示，首尔高等法院裁定，朴槿惠与她的朋友崔顺实串通，从大企业集团手中收受数百亿韩元，以此来帮助崔氏家族和她旗下的非盈利基金会。

"Such unethical dealings between political power and financial power harms the essence of democracy and distorts order in the market economy, giving the people a grave sense of loss and deep distrust of our society. A strict penalty is unavoidable," presiding judge Kim Mun-suk said in the ruling.

审判长金文硕在裁决中表示：“政治权力和金融权力之间的这种不道德交易损害了民主的本质，扭曲了市场经济秩序，给人们带来了严重的损失和对我们社会的极度不信任。严格的惩罚是不可避免的。”

A lower court had jailed Park for 24 years in April. Prosecutors³ appealed against that decision, seeking a tougher sentence. Park had given up on appeals.

今年4月，一初级法院判处朴槿惠24年监禁。检察官对这一判决提出上诉，要求做出更严厉的判决。目前朴槿惠已经放弃了上诉。

Park, 66, has been in jail since March 31, 2017, but has denied wrongdoing and was not present in court.

现年66岁的朴槿惠自2017年3月31日以来一直在狱中服刑，但她否认自己有不当行为，并拒绝出庭。

Her ouster last year led to a presidential election won by the liberal Moon Jae-in, whose conciliatory stance on North Korea has led to a significant warming of ties with the North.

去年，她的下台导致了自由派的文在寅胜选总统，他在朝鲜问题上的和解姿态促进了与朝鲜关系的显著升温。