Seoul: The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict next week on corruption charges faced by former first lady Kim Keon Hee, the wife of ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol, legal sources said Friday. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, following appeals from both Kim and a special counsel team against a Seoul High Court ruling in April that sentenced her to four years in prison for stock manipulation and bribery.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kim is charged with involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme involving Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea, between October 2010 and December 2012, generating illegal profits of 810 million won (US$540,000). Additionally, she faces charges of accepting a Graff diamond necklace and two Chanel bags from a former senior Unification Church official, who sought favors for the church through a shaman in 2022.
The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed an 18-month prison term for the former Unification Church official, Yun Young-ho, for delivering the gifts to Kim through the shaman. The top court also finalized a five-year sentence for the shaman, Jeon Seong-bae, for colluding with Kim to accept the gifts.
The former first lady is further accused of violating the political fund law by allegedly colluding with her husband between June 2021 and March 2022 to receive free opinion poll results from a self-proclaimed power broker. The Seoul High Court previously more than doubled her initial 20-month sentence from a lower district court, although the four-year sentence remains significantly less than the 15-year prison term recommended by special counsel Min Joong-ki.