As 2020 begins, the optimism that permeated South Korea in late 2016 and early 2017 seems but a distant memory. Three years ago, hundreds of thousands were holding peaceful weekly demonstrations—popularly dubbed the “Candlelight Revolution” for the candle-carrying participants—against corruption on the part of then-president Park Geun-hye and
Some of the most powerful figures in South Korean society were arrested as a result of Park Geun-hye’s corruption scandal: Lee Jae-yong, the de facto chief of Samsung, former ministers of culture and health, former Blue House aides who yielded significant power, and of course, former president Park Geun-hye