Kim Keon Hee, South Korea’s former first lady, was sentenced to 20 months in prison in a bribery case, making her and her husband the first former first couple to be jailed together over corruption and other charges in the nation’s history.
The Seoul central district court found Ms Kim, wife of former president Yoon Suk Yeol, guilty of receiving gifts from a Unification Church official in 2022 in exchange for business favours. Mr Yoon was ultimately impeached and jailed after shocking the nation by declaring martial law in December 2024.
Prosecutors also accused Ms Kim of conspiring with a former head of Deutsche Motors Co Ltd, a car dealer in South Korea, as well as a close associate, to manipulate the company’s stock price and make 810 million won (€475,000) in illegal profits between 2010 and 2012. But the court cleared her of the charges, citing lack of evidence.
Ms Kim’s legal representative expressed gratitude to the justices and said her legal team would review whether to appeal the ruling. Prosecutors had sought 15 years in prison for Ms Kim, a fine of 2 billion won and forfeiture of part of Ms Kim’s stock manipulation gains.
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Ms Kim was arrested in August last year as prosecutors widened their investigation into allegations ranging from suspected stock manipulation to bribery. South Korea has a long history of former leaders whose fortunes unravel after leaving office, but this marked the first time a former president and his spouse were detained simultaneously. Ms Kim is also the first former first lady in South Korea’s history to be arrested.
[ The first lady and the Dior pouch: a political crisis grips South KoreaOpens in new window ]
Ms Kim’s corruption allegations and a separate Dior bag scandal marked a turning point in the erosion of public support for Yoon’s conservative government. While the Dior bag incident occurred in 2022, it surfaced publicly only in November 2023, before escalating into a full-blown political firestorm in early 2024. The special counsel separately indicted her over the Dior bag charge.
Mr Yoon himself now faces the death penalty stemming from his short-lived imposition of martial law. A Seoul court is set to rule on that case next month. In a separate case, he was sentenced to five years in prison for charges including abuse of power to block his arrest, a ruling he has appealed.
For months while in office, Mr Yoon resisted calls to issue a direct apology, opting instead to issue carefully calibrated statements that sought to limit legal exposure but failed to calm public unease. The episode overshadowed his policy agenda and complicated efforts to push legislation through an opposition-controlled national assembly.- Bloomberg
