Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday issued a statement on the Supreme Court sentence of former President Park Geun-hye, stating the corruption scandal that led to imprisonment of an ex-president should never be repeated.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court upheld a 20-year sentence for Park on bribery and other charges, closing the legal process that gripped the country and ultimately removed her from office in 2017.

"Such an incident should never be repeated, through taking the tragic incident of a former president serving in prison as a historical lesson," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok said in a briefing.

Kang added that the top court's ruling effectively realized the nation's Constitutional spirit and that it was a sign of the advancement of Korea's democracy.

Kang, meanwhile declined to comment on the ongoing political debate as to whether the president should pardon Park along with her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, who is also serving a 17-year jail term for corruption.

"It would be inappropriate to discuss pardons immediately after the Supreme Court ruling was made," the office said.

The debate erupted almost unexpectedly after Rep. Lee Nak-yon, head of the ruling Democratic Party, stated on New Year's Day that he would ask the president to grant pardons for Park and Lee at an appropriate time as a way to transcend partisan politics and promote national unity. (Yonhap)