October's public apology did not save South Korean's first female president, Park Geun-hye. She was impeached today by Parliament and stripped of all her power. It's been a rapid fall for an elected leader who grew up as the daughter of a former dictator, Park Chung-hee.
Photo courtesy of the Korean Culture and Information Service
Kyung Moon Hwang is Professor of History, East-Asian Languages and Cultures at USC. He's author of A History of Korea: An Episodic Narrative.