Who is South Korea’s former first lady?

Two Chanel bags, a BMW dealership and a controversial church were at the center of the case facing former South Korea First Lady Kim Keon Hee.

The wife of disgraced former president Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested in August on a litany of charges including bribery, stock manipulation and political interference, all of which she has denied.

Prosecutors had accused Kim, 52, of making more than 800 million won ($552,570; £404,050) between October 2010 and December 2012 by participating in a price-rigging scheme involving shares in Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea.

He was also accused of accepting luxury handbags, a diamond necklace and other gifts worth up to 80 million won as bribes from the controversial Unification Church in exchange for business favors, and receiving 58 free opinion polls worth 270 million Korean won from political broker Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the 2022 presidential election.

On Wednesday, a court found him guilty of accepting bribes from Unification Church officials and sentenced him to 20 months in prison.

But he was cleared of charges of manipulating stock prices and violating South Korea’s campaign finance laws. The court has two more cases to hear in the coming months.

The decision came less than two weeks after her husband was sentenced to prison for abuse of power and obstruction of justice in connection with his failed martial law bid.

This also marks the first time in history that a president’s wife has been charged while in custody.

But this isn’t the first time Kim himself has been embroiled in controversy.

Kim Keon Hee, born Kim Myeong-sin, was a businesswoman and art lover before becoming the First Lady of South Korea.

She graduated from Sookmyung Women’s University with a degree in art education in 1999, but later faced repeated allegations of plagiarism during her time as a student there, leading to the university revoking her degree in 2025 after a research ethics panel found her thesis had been compromised.

He has never commented publicly on these allegations.

In 2009, he founded the art exhibition company Covana Contents, of which he remains CEO and president. However, in 2019, South Korean media claimed that he had evaded paying taxes and received kickbacks for hosting art exhibitions.

Kim, who resigned from his post, was cleared of these charges in 2023, but the special counsel is currently re-examining the case.

Later, ahead of the 2022 presidential election won by her husband, allegations emerged that Kim submitted applications to universities and companies containing fake qualifications and awards, potentially sparking a scandal over fabricated credentials.

In response to these allegations, which some opposition members attempted to use as a political cudgel against Yoon, Kim publicly apologized for what he described as “exaggerations” in his CV.

She also promised that if her husband became president, she would “focus solely on my role as his wife.”

But it was his behavior while in this role that attracted some of the fiercest reactions.

In late 2023, spy camera footage emerged showing Kim purchasing a luxury bag from an office in Seoul in September 2022.

The footage was reportedly secretly shot by pastor Choi Jae-young using a camera built into his watch, and its release intensified public scrutiny on both Kim and Yoon.

The photo shows Mr Choi walking into a store to buy the greyish-blue calfskin bag, with a receipt showing the cost of the bag at 3 million won ($2,200; £1,800). Mr. Choi later visits Covana Contents, a company owned by the First Lady, in Seoul, where Ms. Kim then asks the pastor: “Why do you keep bringing me these?”

South Korean law makes it illegal for public officials and their spouses to receive gifts worth more than 1 million won at a time or a total of 3 million won in a fiscal year.

Although the video does not explicitly show Kim accepting the gift, the Korea Herald reported that the presidential office confirmed receipt of the bag and said it was “managed and stored as government property.”

The presidential office did not immediately respond to the news, and civil groups filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office citing possible violations of the Anti-Corruption Law, further fueling the controversy.

This incident was one of 16 allegations examined by the special counsel team, 12 of which were referred to police for further investigation.

But Wednesday’s decision focused It concerns Kim’s alleged involvement in stock manipulation by Deutsch Motors and alleged election interference, as well as other allegations that Kim received bribes from the Unification Church.

Kim denied the accusations; However, she later admitted to taking the Chanel bags, which she said she brought back without using them.

Prosecutors last month sought a 15-year prison sentence and a 2 billion won fine, saying he was “above the law” and colluded with the Unification Church to undermine the “constitutionally mandated separation of church and state.”

While Kim’s series of scandals cast a shadow over her husband’s presidential career, it was Yoon herself who ultimately sealed her own fate as one of South Korea’s most infamous former leaders.

On January 16, Yoon was found guilty of abuse of power, falsifying documents, and obstruction of justice when he tried and failed to impose martial law in the country in 2024. He was also sentenced to five years in prison.

This was the first of four rulings in four cases linked to Yoon’s shock martial law decree. Although short-lived, the move triggered unrest across the country and led to protests as lawmakers flocked to the national assembly to overturn Yoon’s decision.

In making the decision, the judge said Yoon’s actions “plunged the country into a political crisis” and noted that Yoon “consistently showed no remorse.”

During the year-long investigation into Yoon’s failed attempt at martial law, special prosecutors began investigating multiple allegations against Kim.

Together, the once powerful couple forms a historic duo: While South Korea has a history of indicting and imprisoning former presidents, this is the first time Yoon and Kim are celebrating the imprisonment of both a former president and the former first lady.