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| ▲ Former first lady Kim Keon Hee speaks during former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae's trial at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul, in this file photo taken April 13, 2026 and provided by the court. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) ex-first lady-trial
(LEAD) Special counsel appeals ex-first lady's 4-year corruption sentence to Supreme Court
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SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- A special counsel team said Monday it has challenged an appeals court ruling sentencing former first lady Kim Keon Hee to four years in prison on corruption charges.
The Seoul High Court raised Kim's sentence from 20 months to four years in prison Tuesday, finding her partially guilty of involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme and guilty of accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church.
Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team had sought a 15-year prison term for the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol after indicting her on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act, the Political Funds Act and a law on the acceptance of bribes for mediation.
The team appears to have appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court to dispute the appellate court's acquittal of her on charges of violating the political fund law for allegedly receiving free opinion poll results from a self-proclaimed power broker.
The appeals court had extended Kim's sentence after reversing a lower court ruling that acquitted her of taking part in the stock price manipulation scheme and found her guilty of only accepting some of the luxury gifts.
The appellate court found her guilty of accepting all the luxury gifts -- two Chanel bags, a Graff diamond necklace and a ginseng extract tea -- from a former Unification Church official requesting favors in 2022.
It fined Kim 50 million won (US$33,900) while ordering the confiscation of the necklace and a forfeiture of around 20 million won.
The court, however, upheld her acquittal regarding the opinion polls, saying the broker had also provided the results to people other than Kim and her husband.
Kim, who has been jailed since August over the corruption charges, has also appealed the ruling.
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