The Seoul Central District Court ordered Park's arrest on charges of bribery, abuse of authority, coercion, and leaking government secrets, after a marathon court hearing the previous day.
"It is justifiable and necessary to arrest (Park) as key charges were justified and there is risk of evidence being destroyed," the court said in a statement.
Television footage of the former leader showed her looking grim and staring straight ahead as she left the prosecutor's office to be taken into custody.
Park, 65, becomes the third former leader to be arrested over corruption in Asia's fourth-largest economy, where politics and big business have long been closely tied.
Korean political commentator JS Suh says Seeing the ex-president being arrested is not providing a complete pleasure to Korean citizens because the fact that most of previous leaders ended up in prison makes them depressed. Therefore something should be done to alter this political system
An election to choose her successor will be held on May 9. Moon Jae-In, her rival in 2012 and a former Democratic Party leader leads opinion polls by large margins.
