[ti:20-Year Sentence for Woman Linked to Former S. Korean President] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.00]The woman whose dealings with former South Korean President Park Geun-hye [00:06.11]led to her removal from office has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. [00:13.68]The Seoul Central District Court announced the sentencing of Choi Soon-sil on Tuesday. [00:22.90]The court ordered Choi to pay a fine of nearly $17 million. [00:30.95]She was found guilty on charges of abuse of power, [00:36.38]bribery and meddling in state affairs. [00:41.58]The scandal involving Choi, Park, other government officials [00:48.27]and business leaders led to huge protests across the country. [00:54.46]As a result, South Korea's National Assembly voted to impeach Park in late 2016. [01:04.33]The Supreme Court voted to remove her from office last year. [01:10.55]This led to early presidential elections, won by current president Moon Jae-in. [01:18.49]The scandal has led to calls for reform of the chaebols, [01:25.10]a term for South Korea's very largest corporations. [01:30.20]Some critics say these businesses have too much influence over the economy. [01:38.32]Choi Soon-sil was accused of having strong influence over the former president, [01:46.78]which some observers described as a "cult-like" control. [01:52.30]The 62-year-old longtime friend of Park held no government position, [01:59.53]but she had influence over the president's decisions. [02:04.99]Park and Choi had known each other since the 1970s. [02:11.78]Choi also was found guilty of using her relationship with Park to force large businesses [02:20.19]to donate more than $68 million to two non-profit corporations she controlled. [02:30.04]Business leaders connected to the case also received jail sentences. [02:37.75]The court sentenced the chairman of the Lotte Group, Sin Dong-bin, [02:44.98]to two and a half years in prison on bribery charges. [02:50.73]Sin was charged with giving over $6 million to a group Choi supported [02:58.02]in exchange for state permission to open a duty-free store and other things. [03:05.36]A former aide to Park also received a six-year sentence for abuse of power. [03:14.53]Last week, another person linked to the case [03:19.52]had his sentence suspended and was released from prison. [03:24.90]Lee Jae-young is heir to the wealth of the family [03:30.33]that controls much of Samsung Electronics, one of South Korea's biggest companies. [03:39.06]Lee was sentenced last August to five years in prison for bribery [03:45.85]and a number of other financial crimes linked to the Choi scandal. [03:52.67]I'm Mario Ritter. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM