S.Korea’s ex-first lady sentenced to four years’ jail
South Korea’s former First Lady Kim Keon-hee was sentenced to four years in prison for stock manipulation and bribery after an appeals court increased her earlier sentence.
The appeals court said Kim was involved in manipulating the price of a thinly traded Korean stock with multiple traders, reversing a lower court decision that acquitted Kim of the charge.
It was also revealed that Kim accepted two Chanel bags and a Graff necklace worth a total of 80 million won ($76,000) from the Unification Church, even though she was aware that the church was expecting political aid for its overseas affairs.
“Kim used her influence as First Lady and paid bribes,” the chief justice said.
“It damaged public confidence in government transparency and caused a divide in public opinion on national issues.”
The court also fined Kim 70 million won and ordered the necklace to be confiscated.
While Kim, the wife of deposed president Yoon Suk-yeol, was sentenced to 20 months in prison for bribery in the first verdict given in January, the court cleared her of other charges.
In addition to bribery, Kim was also accused of manipulating small-scale stocks and illegally supporting a candidate in the 2022 midterm elections.
The appeals court upheld the verdict that Kim was not guilty of violating election law.
Kim has been detained in prison since August.
He has denied all the charges, and his lawyers said Kim will appeal Tuesday’s ruling in the Supreme Court.
The case is among a series of cases stemming from investigations into Yoon’s brief imposition of martial law in 2024 and related scandals involving the once powerful couple.
Yoon, who was deposed in April 2025, was sentenced to life imprisonment in February for planning an uprising linked to his martial law imposition in 2024.
Several of his aides are also on trial for their alleged involvement in the incident.
Former prime minister Han Duck-soo was sentenced to 23 years in prison after judges ruled he “ignored” Yoon’s plan.
