(LEAD) Ex-first lady Kim Keon Hee appeals 20-month prison sentence in corruption trial

▲ Former first lady Kim Keon Hee (Yonhap)

▲ A news report on the Seoul Central District Court's sentencing of former first lady Kim Keon Hee on charges of accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church is aired on a television at Seoul Station in central Seoul on Jan. 28, 2026. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) ex-first lady-trial

(LEAD) Ex-first lady Kim Keon Hee appeals 20-month prison sentence in corruption trial

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By Chae Yun-hwan

SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- Former first lady Kim Keon Hee on Monday appealed against a court ruling sentencing her to 20 months in prison for accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church.

Last Wednesday, the Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence, making Kim and her husband, ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol, the country's first former presidential couple to be imprisoned with criminal convictions.

The court also ordered Kim to forfeit 12.8 million won (US$8,770), while acquitting her of two other charges she faced in the trial -- involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme and violating the Political Funds Act.

The sentence was far shorter than the 15-year term sought by special counsel Min Joong-ki's team, which filed an appeal last Friday, claiming "serious" misunderstandings of the facts in the ruling.

The court had found Kim guilty of accepting the luxury gifts, such as a Chanel bag and a Graff diamond necklace, from the Unification Church that had sought business favors in 2022, but did not recognize the other charges.

Kim had been charged with conspiring to manipulate the stock price of Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea, and making 810 million won in illegal profits between 2010 and 2012.

She was also indicted for violating the Political Funds Act for receiving free opinion polls, together with her husband, from a self-proclaimed power broker ahead of the 2022 presidential election.

The court said it could not determine that Kim served as an accomplice in the stock price manipulation, while also finding her not guilty of the other charge as the power broker did not exclusively give the polls to the couple.

Yoon, who is standing trial on charges of leading an insurrection through his short-lived imposition of martial law in 2024, has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges stemming from his failed martial law bid.

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