Former first lady of South Korea sentenced to 20 months in prison for taking bribes

The wife of South Korea’s ousted former president has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for accepting bribes from the controversial Unification Church.

However, Kim Keon Hee, 52, was acquitted by a court of charges including manipulating stock prices and accepting free polls from political brokers ahead of the 2022 presidential election, which was won by her husband Yoon Suk Yeol.

Yin has been sentenced to five years in prison for abusing power and obstructing justice when his application for martial law failed in 2024.

This marks the first time in South Korea’s history that a former president and his wife have been convicted at the same time.

On Wednesday, a judge at the Seoul Central District Court ruled that Kim Jong-un “abused his position as a means of pursuing personal gain.”

The judge said: “The higher your position, the more conscious you must be to guard against such behavior…The defendant failed to refuse solicitation and only wanted to decorate himself.”

The special advisory team in charge of the case said that between April and July 2022, Kim Jong Un received 80 million won in gifts from the Unification Church, including a Graff diamond necklace and several Chanel handbags, in exchange for business and political favors.

The team sought 15 years in prison and a 2 billion won fine on all three charges heard today (one of which was found guilty), but the judge noted that Kim was not the one soliciting or soliciting bribes and that she had “no major criminal record.”

However, she was ordered to repay 12.85 million won ($9,000; £6,500) in cash and the court also ordered the diamond necklace to be confiscated.

Kim is also accused of participating in a scheme to recruit Unification Church followers to join her husband’s conservative People’s Power party and accepting gifts in exchange for government appointments. The cases are yet to be heard by the courts.

Additional reporting by Leehyun Choi in Seoul