South Korea court hands jailed former president Park 8 more years in jail

A South Korean court on Friday sentenced former President Park Geun-hye to eight more years in prison after finding her guilty on charges of causing loss of funds from the state spy agency and interfering in 2016 parliamentary elections.

The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Park, who already received a 24-year jail term over separate corruption charges, colluded with her former aides to cause the loss of government funds worth 3.3bn won ($2.91m) from the National Intelligence Service.

The judge rebuked Park, who denied the charges, for being "uncooperative" throughout the court hearing and questioning by prosecutors. She was also found guilty of interfering in the then-ruling Saenuri Party's selection of candidates for the parliamentary election.

Park, 66, has denied wrongdoing and was not present in court. She was found guilty by a lower court in April of separate charges including bribery, abuse of power and coercion. She was also fined $16m. She now faces a total of 32 years in prison. 

AL Jazeera