Anchor: Former first lady Kim Keon-hee has been found not guilty of financial crimes related to the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation scandal and of breaking the political funding law to benefit her husband, former President Yoon Suk Yeol, ahead of the 2022 presidential election. But the court reproached Kim on Wednesday as it handed down a 20-month prison sentence for accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: 

[Sound bite: Seoul Central District Court Judge Woo In-seong (Korean-English)]
“The defendant is sentenced to one year and eight months in prison.”

A Seoul court has sentenced former first lady Kim Keon-hee to one year and eight months in prison for accepting gifts from the Unification Church, but acquitted her of other charges related to stock manipulation and interference in party politics.

In its ruling Wednesday, the Seoul Central District Court also ordered a forfeiture of 12-point-82 million won, or around nine-thousand U.S. dollars.

Kim was accused of accepting gifts worth 80 million won from the church between April and July 2022 in return for administrative favors, with a shaman known as Geon Jin acting as an intermediary.

The court, which found Kim guilty of accepting some, but not all, of the gifts, chastised her for misusing her position as first lady as a means to seek profit.

[Sound bite: Seoul Central District Court Judge Woo In-seong (Korean-English)] 
“The first lady exerts immense influence on the president, being the person closest to him, and has the symbolic role of representing the country alongside him. Accordingly, she needs to conduct herself appropriately, and needless to say the position demands the highest standards of integrity and honesty.” 

But allegations that Kim brought in approximately 810 million won between October 2010 and December 2012 through stock manipulation involving Deutsch Motors did not hold up, due to lack of evidence on some counts and the statute of limitations having run out on others.

She was also acquitted of conspiring with her husband, former President Yoon Suk Yeol, to obtain free poll results valued at roughly 270 million won from pollster and power broker Myung Tae-kyun before the 2022 presidential race.

The court found insufficient evidence to prove the former first couple promised Myung that former People Power Party Rep. Kim Young-sun would gain party candidacy in return for the polls.

It is the first time in the country’s history that a former president’s spouse has been sentenced to prison time.

Yoon recently got a five-year term for obstructing an attempt to arrest him over his martial law action in late 2024.

The special team — which had requested a 15-year sentence for the former first lady, along with a fine of two billion won and a forfeiture of 948 million won — said it intends to appeal the ruling.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.