Court to rule on ex-President Yoon in 'free opinion poll' case

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol enters the Seoul Central District Court to attend a hearing to review the legality of his detention over charges related to his failed attempt to impose martial law in Seoul, July 9, 2025. Joint Press Corps

A Seoul district court was set to deliver its verdict Monday for former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of accepting illegal donations in the form of free opinion polls from a self-proclaimed power broker.

The Seoul Central District Court was scheduled to hold the sentencing hearing for Yoon and the power broker, Myung Tae-kyun, at 2 p.m. after a special counsel team indicted them both on charges of violating the Political Funds Act.

Yoon is accused of colluding with his wife, former first lady Kim Keon Hee, to receive 58 opinion polls worth about 270 million won ($180,100) in total from Myung for free between April 2021 and March 2022.

Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team believes Yoon accepted the polls in exchange for supporting former Rep. Kim Young-sun's nomination as a candidate for the conservative People Power Party in the parliamentary by-elections in June 2022.

Min's team has demanded a four-year prison sentence for Yoon and a three-year term for Myung.

The jailed former president, who is standing multiple trials following his ouster due to his failed 2024 martial law bid, has denied requesting Myung for opinion polls or making promises in return.

In April, an appeals court acquitted Yoon's wife on the same charges of accepting free opinion polls from Myung, upholding a lower court's not guilty verdict.

In her acquittal, the Seoul High Court ruled the couple could not be seen as profiting off the opinion polls as Myung provided them to other people. Min's team has appealed the ruling.