이명박 전 대통령, 동부구치소 251일만에 재수감<br /><br />Former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak headed to prison earlier today after a Seoul court upheld a 17-year term on corruption charges.<br />It is effectively a life sentence: unless he is pardoned or paroled, the 78-year-old will not leave jail until 2036, when he would be 95.<br />His return to jail means all four of South Korea's living former presidents are either behind bars or have served jail terms often as a result of investigations begun under successors who are political rivals.<br />Choi Jeong-yoon reports.<br />South Korea's 17th President Lee Myung-bak was put behind bars again on Monday afternoon.<br />This follows the Supreme Court's decision last week to confirm a 17-year prison sentence handed down by an appeals court for embezzlement, accepting bribes and other crimes.<br />The 78-year-old is incarcerated again after 251 days,...as he had been out of jail since February after he appealed a court's decision to deny him bail.<br />Lee was sent to Seoul Dongbu Detention Center at around 2 PM.<br />He had served time there for about a year after his arrest in 2018.<br />He is expected to be detained in a roughly 13-square-meter single cell on the top floor...fitted with a television, a mattress, a bathroom as well as a sink and a table.<br />A personal prison officer will be assigned to help him with his prison life out of deference to his former presidential status.<br />However, he will undergo physical examinations and a mug shot, and be deprived of his belongings just like other prisoners.<br />According to procedure, Lee would be moved to a prison in three to four weeks,... but there's a possibility that he serves his remaining 16 years in the detention center instead, given his age and underlying health conditions.<br />Lee was convicted of embezzling around 30 million U.S. dollars through an auto parts company... of which he effectively owned and accepting around 6 million dollars of bribes from Samsung Electronics.<br />Without a special pardon, he will be released in 2036, at the age of 94.<br />Choi Jeong-yoon, Arirang News.<br />
