Seoul: A court on Thursday sentenced former special counsel Park Young-soo to seven years in prison on bribery charges. The Seoul Central District Court also ordered Park to pay a fine of 500 million won (US$345,000) and a forfeit of 150 million won after finding him guilty of receiving 300 million won in bribes from a property developer.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the court also handed out an imprisonment of five years, a fine of 300 million won, and a forfeit of 150 million won to Park's former assistant Yang Jae-sik on charges of conspiring to take the bribes. The court then placed Park and Yang under immediate detention.

Park was indicted in August 2023 for taking 1.9 billion won in bribes, including 800 million won he accepted from private developers in return for helping them win a property development project in the Daejang-dong neighborhood of Seongnam, south of Seoul, from 2014-15. He was also charged as one of several prominent figures belonging to the so-called "5 billion-won club" who were promised or received 5 billion won each from asset management firm Hwacheon Daeyu, the investor behind the Daejang-dong project.

However, the court acquitted Park of the charges related to the 5 billion-won club and 500 million won of the 800 million won in his indictment. Park is best known as the special counsel who investigated a corruption scandal that led to the impeachment and ouster of then President Park Geun-hye in 2017.