head of state in the modern history of Northeast Asia. Over the years, however, her reputation was marred by her incompetency of handling the Sewol ferry disaster, her handling of the MERS outbreak, and later a major scandal, leading to her impeachment in December 2016. The corruption scandal involving Choi Soon-sil quickly blew up after reports from multiple news organizations (the most notable of which was JTBC) in 2016, nationwide protests ensued on a weekly basis, with participant count hitting a maximum of over 2.3 million (as reported by the protesters). These protests turned out to be the biggest series of mass protests in Korean history. The protests continued even after the Congress voted on Park's impeachment. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn acted as President of South Korea pending completion of investigations into the actions of Park Geun-hye, and in the absence of any intervening election. The impeachment was upheld by the Constitutional Court on 10 March 2017, ending Park's presidency and forcing her out of office. In April 2018, former president Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in jail, because of abuse of power and corruption. Moon Jae-in, 2017–2022 Moon Jae-in was inaugurated on 10 May 2017. As President, his tenure saw an improving political relationship with North Korea, some increasing divergence in the military alliance with the United States, and the successful hosting of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Moon Jae-in met with North Korean chairman Kim Jong-un at the April 2018 inter-Korean summit, May 2018 inter-Korean summit, and September 2018 inter-Korean summit. During the COVID-19 outbreak, President Moon had gained a positive reputation both domestically and internationally with the initial successes of controlling the outbreak. Subsequent outbreaks in 2021, however, caused his ratings to plummet. As of 2021, South Korea recorded more deaths than births, resulting in a population decline for the first time on record. In April 2020, President Moon's Democratic party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections. It took 180 seats in the 300-member National Assembly with its allies. The opposition People Power Party (UFP) won 103 seats. President Moon finished his term on 9 May 2022. His successor, People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, took over the seat on 10 May 2022 after winning narrowly the 2022 South Korean presidential election. Yoon Suk-yeol, since 2022 On 29 October 2022, at least 153 people were crushed to death when a crowd surged in an