Sentencing day: A TV screen showing live footage of Kim (right), wearing a mask, during a news programme, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul. — AP
A judge handed the country’s former first lady, Kim Keon-hee, 20 months in jail for accepting lavish gifts from a cult-like church but acquitted her for alleged stock manipulation and other charges.
Controversy has long surrounded 53-year-old Kim, and accusations of graft, influence peddling and even academic fraud dominated her husband Yoon Suk-yeol’s time in office.
Both are now in custody – Yoon for actions taken during his disastrous declaration of martial law in December 2024 and its chaotic aftermath, and Kim, for corruption.
On Wednesday, Judge Woo In-sung of the Seoul Central District Court found her guilty of corruption and sentenced her to 20 months in prison.
She was found to have accepted lavish bribes from the cult- like Unification Church – including a Chanel bag and a Graff necklace.
She was, however, found not guilty of stock manipulation and violations of South Korea’s campaign financing laws.
Prosecutors had asked for 15 years.
Judge Woo said Kim’s close proximity to the president had given her “significant influence” that she had taken advantage of.
“One’s position must never become a means of pursuing private gain,” he said.
Kim, he added, had “abused her position as a means of pursuing personal gain”.
The former first lady sat in the court as the sentence was read out, wearing a black suit, a white face mask and glasses.
Prosecutors in her final hearing in December said Kim had “stood above the law” and colluded with the Unification Church to undermine “the constitutionally mandated separation of religion and state”.
Prosecutor Min Joong-ki also said South Korea’s institutions were “severely undermined by abuses of power” committed by Kim.
The former first lady has denied all the charges, claiming the allegations were “deeply unjust” in her final testimony last month.
But she has also apologised for “causing trouble despite being a person of no importance”.
“When I consider my role and the responsibilities entrusted to me, it seems clear that I have made many mistakes,” she said in December.
A self-professed animal lover known internationally for her work campaigning for South Korea to ban dog meat, Kim’s scandals frequently overshadowed her husband’s domestic political agenda.
In 2023, hidden camera footage appeared to show Kim accepting a US$2,200 luxury handbag in what was later dubbed the “Dior bag scandal”, further dragging down Yoon’s already dismal approval ratings.
The scandal contributed to a stinging defeat for Yoon’s party in the general elections in April 2024, as it failed to win back a parliamentary majority.
Yoon vetoed three opposition-backed Bills to investigate allegations against Kim, including the Dior bag case, with the last veto in November 2024. A week later, he declared martial law.
Kim’s sentencing came days after former prime minister Han Duck-soo was sentenced to 23 years in prison – eight years longer than prosecutors demanded – for aiding and abetting Yoon’s suspension of civilian rule.
And this month Yoon was sentenced to five years in prison for obstructing justice and other crimes in the first of a number of trials linked to that declaration.
The probe into Kim also led to the arrest of Han Hak-ja, leader of the Unification Church, which claims 10 million followers worldwide and runs a vast business empire.
A Seoul court will additionally sentence top lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong, also accused of taking bribes from the sect, on Wednesday. — AFP
