Seoul, Dec 20 (IANS): Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, currently serving a 22-year prison term for corruption, will remain in a hospital until February 2022 for multiple illnesses, the Justice Ministry said on Monday.

When admitted to a hospital in southern Seoul on November 22, Park had planned to stay there for about a month, but doctors now say that she needs at least six more weeks for treatment of back, shoulder and other ailments, according to the Ministry.

This year, the 69-year-old Park was hospitalised three times due to her chronic shoulder and lower back pain, reports Yonhap News Agency.

In 2019, she received shoulder surgery.

Park has been serving a combined 22-year prison sentence since March 2017 after being impeached and removed from office over far-reaching corruption charges and an influence-peddling scandal.

The former leader is expected to return to the Seoul Detention Centre in February unless she is pardoned or allowed a stay of execution of sentence.