▲ Kim Keon-hee
The Supreme Court has postponed the sentencing date for First Lady Kim Keon-hee, originally scheduled for tomorrow, July 16, regarding the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case and other charges, to July 24.
The decision appears to be in response to a request from the special prosecutor's team, led by Min Joong-ki, to review the first-instance ruling that found former President Yoon Suk Yeol guilty in connection with the Myung Tae-kyun public opinion poll bribery allegations.
The Supreme Court's Second Division (Justice Park Young-jae presiding) announced on July 15 that the sentencing date for Kim's appeal—involving charges of violating the Capital Markets Act, the Political Funds Act, and the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes (influence peddling)—has been rescheduled to 2:00 p.m. on July 24.
The ruling was originally set for 10:15 a.m. on July 16.
The special prosecutor's team had requested the court the previous day to review the first-instance ruling on former President Yoon's "Myung Tae-kyun public opinion poll" case, asking for a postponement of Kim's sentencing by at least one month to allow for this review.
Former President Yoon and Kim were indicted and tried separately on charges of receiving 58 public opinion polls worth a total of 270 million won free of charge from political broker Myung Tae-kyun between June 2021 and March 2022.
Kim had been acquitted of these specific charges in both the first and second trials and was awaiting the Supreme Court's final judgment.
The lower courts had reasoned that because Myung provided public opinion polls to others besides the former President and his wife, it could not be concluded that the couple had gained financial benefits equivalent to the cost of the polls.
However, the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Agreement Division 33 (Presiding Judge Lee Jin-kwan), which presided over the case against former President Yoon, found him guilty on July 13 regarding the free receipt of 14 public opinion polls and sentenced him to two years in prison.
The court acknowledged a "sequential and implicit meeting of minds" between the former President, his wife, and Myung regarding the free receipt and provision of the polls, and based its guilty verdict on the premise that Kim was a co-principal offender with the former President.
This has resulted in conflicting judicial outcomes for the couple regarding the same charges.
In the same trial, Kim was sentenced to four years in prison and a fine of 50 million won in the second instance, as she was found guilty of some charges related to participation in the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation and the receipt of money and valuables from the Unification Church, in addition to the charges under the Political Funds Act.
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