▲ This file photo, provided by the Seoul Central District Court on April 13, 2026, shows former first lady Kim Keon Hee speaking as a witness during the insurrection trial of former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae at the court in southern Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) ex-first lady-trial

(LEAD) Supreme Court to rule on ex-first lady's corruption charges on July 16

(ATTN: UPDATES with more information, additional background in paras 4-7)

SEOUL, July 10 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict next week on corruption charges faced by former first lady Kim Keon Hee, the wife of ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol, legal sources said Friday.

The sentencing hearing will be held at 10:15 a.m. Thursday, the sources said, after Kim and a special counsel team both appealed a Seoul High Court ruling in April that sentenced her to four years in prison for stock manipulation and bribery.

Kim is charged with involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme, involving Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea, between October 2010 and December 2012 and making illegal profits of 810 million won (US$540,000).

She also faces charges of accepting a Graff diamond necklace and two Chanel bags from a former senior Unification Church official, who requested favors for the church, through a shaman in 2022.

The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed an 18-month prison term for the former Unification Church official, Yun Young-ho, on charges of delivering the gifts to Kim through the shaman.

The top court also finalized a five-year sentence for the shaman, Jeon Seong-bae, for colluding with Kim to accept the gifts.

The former first lady is additionally accused of violating the political fund law for allegedly colluding with her husband between June 2021 and March 2022 to receive free opinion poll results from a self-proclaimed power broker.

While the Seoul High Court more than doubled her initial 20-month term sentenced by a lower district court, the four-year sentence fell far short of special counsel Min Joong-ki's recommendation of 15 years in prison.

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