South Korea has just checked off a political first: a former president and first lady convicted at the same time. Ousted ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced earlier this month to five years in prison over an attempted martial law plan in 2024. On Wednesday, a Seoul court sentenced his wife, Kim Keon Hee, to 20 months in prison for accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church in exchange for political and business favors, per the BBC. Prosecutors said she took about 80 million won (roughly $60,000) in items, including a Graff diamond necklace and several Chanel bags, between April and July 2022. The court ordered her to repay $9,000 and to forfeit the necklace.
Kim, 52, was acquitted on separate charges of stock price manipulation and receiving free political polling ahead of the 2022 election that brought Yoon to power. A special counsel had pushed for a 15-year sentence and $2 million in fines on all three counts, per NBC News, but Judge Woo In-sung said Kim did not initiate the bribes and had "no significant criminal record." Still, he said she "failed to reject solicitations," was "preoccupied with self-adornment," and "misused her position as a means of pursuing personal gain."
The leader of the Unification Church, Han Hak-ja, who is also on trial, has claimed nothing was expected in return for the gifts. Kim, who called the charges "deeply unjust," only admitted to receiving handbags that she later returned. She still faces additional trials tied to alleged efforts to funnel Unification Church followers into Yoon's conservative People Power Party and to trade gifts for government posts. Yoon also faces multiple trials, including a judge's verdict on a charge of attempted insurrection, with prosecutors requesting a death sentence.
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