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South Korea Supreme Court to Rule Next Week on Appeals in Ex-First Lady Corruption Case
The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict Thursday on charges against former first lady Kim Keon Hee. She faces a four-year prison term from an April appeals court ruling on stock manipulation and bribery allegations.
Jul 10, 3:55 AM·1m read1 source
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The Supreme Court of South Korea will deliver its verdict next week on corruption charges against former first lady Kim Keon Hee, Yonhap reported. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. Thursday.
Kim and a special counsel team both appealed an April ruling by the Seoul High Court that sentenced her to four years in prison. The charges include involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme at Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer, from October 2010 to December 2012 that yielded illegal profits of 810 million won, or about $540,000.
She also faces charges of accepting a Graff diamond necklace and two Chanel bags in 2022 from a former senior Unification Church official.
The gifts were delivered through a shaman in exchange for favors for the church. The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed an 18-month prison term for the former Unification Church official, Yun Young-ho, on charges of delivering the gifts. It also finalized a five-year sentence for the shaman, Jeon Seong-bae, for colluding with Kim to accept the gifts.
Kim is additionally accused of violating the political fund law by 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 had more than doubled an initial 20-month sentence from a lower court, though the four-year term fell short of special counsel Min Joong-ki's recommendation of 15 years.
