South Korea’s first female Prime Minister, Han Myeong-Sook was on Wednesday released from prison after completing a two-year sentence for accepting illicit political funds.

Myeong-Sook, now 73 was the first woman to hold the post of  Prime Minister in South Korea having been appointed in 2006 by the liberal government of then President, Roh Moo-Hyun.

The ex-prime minister who said she suffered pains during her incarceration, was greeted by politicians, friends, family and hundreds of supporters as she emerged from a detention centre on the outskirts of Seoul early Wednesday.

“There has been insufferable pain during the past two years but I have finally met a new world and I am grateful,” Myeong-Sook told the local Yanhap News Agency.

Former presidents and high ranking government officials have recently been embroiled in corruption scandals in the Asian country where politics and big business have for long been closely tied.