SEOUL, April 8 — South Korea’s special counsel on Wednesday sought a 15-year prison sentence in an appeal hearing for Kim Keon-hee, wife of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, on corruption charges.
The team of Min Joong-ki, an independent counsel who led an investigation into corruption allegations involving Yoon and his wife, demanded a 15-year jail term in the appellate court after requesting the same sentence in the first instance.
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kim to 20 months in prison with a forfeiture of 12.81 million won (about 8,670 U.S. dollars) in January.
Kim was accused of receiving valuables from Unification Church officials in exchange for favorable treatment of the religious group in 2022.
She was charged with violating the Capital Markets Act by gaining illicit profits through her involvement in the stock price manipulation between October 2010 and December 2012.
She was also charged with violating the Political Funds Act for allegedly conspiring with Yoon to receive illegal public opinion poll results free of charge from a political broker on 58 occasions ahead of the 2022 presidential election.
Kim, who was indicted under detention in August 2025, became the first wife of a former South Korean president to be tried under detention.
Separately, Kim was indicted on charges of requesting mass enrollment of Unification Church members in the People Power Party to support a specific candidate as a party leader in the party’s national convention.
She also faced charges of accepting valuables in exchange for providing business favors and selling public offices. (Namibia Daily News/Xinhua)
