South Korean President Park Geun-hye bows before releasing a statement of apology to the public during a news conference at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, October 25, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Park was under harsh criticism for her bungling of rescue operations in the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster that claimed over 300 lives, mostly high school students on a school trip to the Jeju Island. In 2015, failures to deal with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) made South Korea the most MERS-contagious country outside Saudi Arabia.

With the repeated policy failures and miscommunications with the public, the motion to impeach Park was passed on Dec 9 in the National Assembly. About three months later, the constitutional court ruled to permanently force her out from office.