Choi Soon-sil, a close confidante of impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye, on Friday got a three-year prison term for one of her corruption charges involving her daughter.
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Choi, 61, to three years' imprisonment for soliciting illicit favors for her daughter to enter a prestigious college and earn effortless grades.
It was the first conviction among several legal cases embroiling Choi and the ousted president Park. Other cases are still under trial.
Three more college officials, including the former head of the Ewha Womans University in Seoul, were sentenced to a suspended sentence, one and a half years in prison and two years' imprisonment.
Choi was at the center of the corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of Park. Prosecutors identified Choi and Park as criminal accomplice.
The decades-long friend of the former conservative president was suspected of extorting tens of millions of U.S. dollars from large conglomerates in return for business favors and the assistance to management transfer.
Choi was also charged with intervening in government affairs behind the scenes, triggering enraged South Koreans taking to the streets for months-long candlelit rallies to demand Park's ouster.
