Ex-first lady sentenced to 7 years in prison for taking gifts for job appointments
Former first lady Kim Keon Hee's trial is shown on a screen at Seoul Station, Friday. Yonhap
A Seoul court on Friday sentenced former first lady Kim Keon Hee to seven years in prison for taking expensive gifts in return for job appointments and business favors.
The Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence to Kim, the wife of ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol, after she was indicted on charges of accepting bribes for mediation, including over 100 million won ($64,750) worth of jewelry in exchange for a government job for a son-in-law of a construction company chairman.
In total, she was charged with taking approximately 300 million won worth of gifts, and the court found her guilty on all counts.
"The defendant disregarded the social responsibilities associated with the position of first lady and used it merely as a means to pursue her private interests," presiding judge Cho Sun-pyo said during the hearing, which was televised live.
Kim was indicted in December on charges of receiving a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace and other jewelry from the construction company chairman between March and May 2022; a golden turtle ornament in April 2022 from Lee Bae-yong, former head of the National Education Commission, in exchange for her appointment; a Dior bag worth 5.4 million won from a pastor the same year; and a Vacheron Constantin watch from another businessperson in September 2022.
In February 2023, she was accused of receiving a painting by renowned artist Lee Ufan from a former prosecutor in return for her help in securing him a nomination for an election.
The exchanges mostly took place during the period her husband was in office from May 2022 until his ouster in April 2025.
The judge said Kim sought to evade responsibility for her crimes by returning some of the gifts once an investigation got under way or arguing she had purchased them herself.
"This shows that she was fully aware of the illegality of her actions but tried to conceal it," he said.
Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team, which had demanded a 7 1/2-year prison term, welcomed the ruling. Kim's lawyers said they would appeal.
The court also sentenced the construction company chairman to a one-year prison term, suspended for two years, the businessperson who gifted the watch to a 10-month prison term, suspended for two years, and the pastor to a fine of 8 million won.
The former first lady has already been sentenced by an appeals court to four years in prison in a separate corruption case.
She is also set to stand trial over her alleged involvement in a case where members of the Unification Church were reportedly forced to join the now main opposition People Power Party ahead of the 2022 presidential election in an attempt to influence the outcome of the party primary to pick its presidential candidate, which her husband Yoon won.