A South Korean court is poised to announce its verdict on Wednesday regarding the corruption and bribery charges against former first lady Kim Keon Hee, the wife of ousted ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol. This ruling marks the initial judgment among the three criminal trials she is entangled in.
The Seoul Central District Court is slated to conduct the sentencing hearing at 2:10 p.m., with the proceedings broadcast live. If Kim is found guilty, both she and her husband would be the first former presidential couple to face convictions. Yoon, who has already received a five-year prison sentence for his involvement in a martial law bid in 2024, is confronting additional charges, including accusations of leading an insurrection.
Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team has requested a 15-year prison term for Kim in connection with charges such as participation in a stock manipulation scheme and acceptance of lavish gifts from the Unification Church. Specifically, Kim stands accused of colluding with a former head of Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea, and a close associate to manipulate the company’s stock price, resulting in illegal profits of 810 million won ($565,170) between 2010 and 2012.
Moreover, Kim faces allegations of receiving complimentary opinion polls valued at 270 million won, alongside her husband, from a self-proclaimed power broker before the 2022 presidential election. The former first lady also stands charged with conspiring with a shaman to receive luxury gifts worth 80 million won from a Unification Church official in 2022, coupled with requests for business favors. Despite being in custody since August, Kim has refuted all accusations.
In a related development, the court is set to deliver judgments on other individuals on the same day in a bribery case involving the Unification Church, including a former church official accused of providing the luxury gifts to Kim. Additionally, the court will rule on Rep. Kweon Seong-dong of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), who has been accused of accepting 100 million won in illicit political funds from the church, as reported by Yonhap news agency.
The former first lady is confronted with two more trials, one involving allegations of recruiting Unification Church followers en masse for the PPP and the other concerning the purported acceptance of luxury gifts in exchange for government job appointments.
