The brother-in-law of the ruling party's interim leader Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 18 months in prison by a Seoul court on Thursday for defaming Park by spreading false online rumors about her.
The Seoul Central District Court delivered the prison term for Shin Dong-uk, 43, the husband of Park's younger sister Geun-ryoung, on charges of defaming her on the Internet.
Shin, a college professor, posted false accusations against Park, a strong presidential aspirant of the ruling Saenuri Party, on her Internet homepage in early 2009, according to the court's records.
The records said Shin was upset about his wife's dismissal from the Yookyoung Foundation, a children's education and welfare fund. The fund was founded in 1969 by their mother Yook Young-su, the wife of late President Park Chung-hee, whose authoritarian rule lasted from 1963-78.
"Shin's claims that his sister-in-law Park overlooked the foundation's violence and robbery are evidently false," Judge Kwon Ki-man said. "Shin deserves a severe punishment, as he repeatedly uploaded defamatory claims on Park's homepage and heavily impaired Park's reputation even after having previously pledged not to repeated them."
The court, however, dismissed prosecutors' charges that Shin also defamed Park's younger brother, Ji-man, saying Shin's claim that his brother-in-law threatened and attacked him has not yet been proven to be false by prosecutors.
The foundation manages massive amounts of assets and has been a source of conflict among the children of late President Park. (Yonhap)