What awaits President Park Geun-hye?

Ms Park will have to leave the Presidential Palace to prepare for an investigation by prosecutors into allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

Ms. Park Geun-hye was removed from office after the Constitutional Court's ruling. Photo: Reuters

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has become the country's first democratically elected leader to be removed from office after the Constitutional Court this morning upheld her impeachment, according to the Telegraph.

The ruling was made by the South Korean Supreme Court after the country's National Assembly decided to impeach and strip her of power over a corruption scandal involving her close friend Choi Soon-sil.

The impeachment decision pushes South Korea into a race to elect a new president in the next 60 days, leaving a major power vacuum as Seoul faces growing regional tensions following Pyongyang's repeated ballistic missile tests.

The ruling could also cost Park, South Korea's first female president, her political life, legal experts say.

According to the Korea Times, after being impeached, Ms. Park will have to leave the Blue House, the presidential palace of South Korea, to return to her old house in the south of the capital Seoul without special bodyguards to protect her.

She also automatically loses her presidential immunity and will have to prepare all documents and files for the prosecutors' investigation into corruption and power manipulation scandal. She is likely to be prosecuted for colluding with Ms. Choi, who is accused of accepting bribes and corruption after pressuring many large companies in South Korea to give them money in exchange for certain political benefits.

Ms Park is accused of taking Choi's secret advice on issues ranging from North Korea policy to wardrobe choices, even though her close friend had no official position in the government.

South Korean prosecutors have prepared a total of 13 indictments against her, including abuse of power, coercion and revealing state secrets.

A South Korean shows support for Ms. Park. Photo: Reuters

Although both Ms. Park and Ms. Choi have denied any wrongdoing, millions of South Koreans have been holding large-scale protests for months demanding their impeachment. The entire South Korean society has been shocked by the scale of the scandal, which involves not only the president, but also giant corporations like Samsung.

Many in the crowd broke down in tears after hearing the Constitutional Court ruling. Thousands of police were deployed on the streets to prevent possible clashes between supporters and opponents of Ms. Park.

The Korea Times said that Park's supporters will head to the Constitutional Court in the coming days to ask the judges to reconsider the decision. The confrontation between the two sides opposing and supporting Park could push South Korea into more chaos.

However, legal experts point out that the Constitutional Court's ruling has the highest legal value, and all South Korean citizens, regardless of their political views, are obliged to comply with this ruling.

However, Park's ouster will certainly affect South Korea's relationship with the US, in the context that Washington has just begun deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to the Korean peninsula, despite threats and protests from China.

South Korean analysts say the Constitutional Court's ruling will be an opportunity for the country's political leaders to end divisions, conflicts and hatred to turn the country to a new page, as well as prepare to deal with the post-impeachment crisis.

South Korean National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun also called on the people and the government to make efforts to bring the country back to normal operations following the Constitutional Court's ruling.

“For at least 100 days, or even up to six months, the country will not be able to function normally, causing many people to suffer,” Chung said, calling on senior South Korean lawmakers to play a key role in uniting the people and moving the country forward.

For her part, Ms. Park needs to accept the pain after the verdict to unite the country, the least she can do after an unprecedented presidential scandal in Korean history, Korea Times emphasized.

According to VNE