Park Geun-hye, the former South Korean president, has been arrested and jailed over a high profile corruption scandal that has already seen her ousted from office and prompted early elections.

A court approved her arrest before dawn on Friday, on charges of bribery, abuse of authority, coercion and leaking government secrets, and Ms Park, 65, was immediately driven to a detention centre in the south of the capital, Seoul.

The court’s decision is another bitter blow for the former president, who earlier this month became the first democratically elected South Korean leader to be forced from office after she was impeached four years into her five year term.

After a marathon hearing on Thursday, Judge Kang Boo-young cited concern about “evidence being destroyed” as the reason for her detention.