Supreme Court Confirms Prison Sentences for 'Geonjin Beopsa' Jeon Seong-bae and Former Unification Church Official Yoon Young-ho

The Supreme Court has confirmed prison sentences for Jeon Seong-bae, known as 'Geonjin Beopsa,' who was charged with conspiring with Kim Keon-hee, the spouse of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, to receive money and valuables from the Unification Church in exchange for favors regarding church issues, and for Yoon Young-ho, the former Secretary-General of the Unification Church World Headquarters, who provided the funds.

With the Supreme Court upholding the guilty verdicts for the two, the outcome is expected to influence the pending appeals of Kim Keon-hee and People Power Party lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong, who were sentenced to prison in lower courts on charges of receiving money and valuables from them.

The Supreme Court's Third Division confirmed on July 9 the lower court rulings that sentenced Jeon to five years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of approximately 180 million won for charges including mediation for profit under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, and sentenced former Secretary-General Yoon to one year and six months in prison for charges including violation of the Political Funds Act.

The cases were presided over by Supreme Court Justices Noh Kyung-pil and Oh Seok-joon, respectively.

Jeon was indicted by a special prosecutor team led by Min Joong-ki on charges of conspiring with Kim Keon-hee between April and July 2022 to receive money and valuables worth approximately 80 million won, including a Chanel bag and a Graff diamond necklace, from former Secretary-General Yoon in exchange for requests to support the church.

Both the first and second trial courts found the charges guilty.

In particular, the second trial court ruled that the Chanel bag gift, delivered in April 2022 just before former President Yoon's inauguration, was "not a simple gift, but a price for implicit solicitation."

The court concluded that at the time, Kim Keon-hee was in a position where she could be perceived as having influence over future presidential duties, and that the Unification Church provided the money and valuables in anticipation of mediation regarding those duties.

The first and second courts also found Jeon guilty of receiving a total of 30 million won from former Secretary-General Yoon between April and July 2022 while demanding a position as an 'advisor to the Unification Group' in return for solicitation and mediation, as well as receiving 200 million won from various companies between July 2022 and January 2025 in exchange for favors.

However, the charge of violating the Political Funds Act for allegedly receiving 100 million won from Park Chang-wook, a Gyeongsangbuk-do provincial council member (then a candidate), in exchange for a request to secure a nomination from the People Power Party ahead of the local elections around May 2022, was ruled not guilty.

The court reasoned that Jeon could not be considered a 'politician' subject to the Political Funds Act, and the money provided by the provincial council member could not be viewed as 'political funds' for Jeon's political activities.

The first trial court sentenced Jeon to six years in prison, which was heavier than the five-year sentence requested by the special prosecutor team.

The first trial court reprimanded Jeon, stating, "The mediation activities related to the Unification Church resulted in the collusion between politics and religion involving Yoon Suk-yeol and Kim Keon-hee," adding that this "runs counter to the purpose of the Republic of Korea, which stipulates the separation of church and state as a fundamental constitutional principle."

While the second trial court found most of the charges guilty just as the first court did, it reduced the sentence to five years in prison, acknowledging as mitigating factors that Jeon confessed to some charges and submitted evidence such as the Chanel bag.

Former Secretary-General Yoon was indicted on charges of delivering money and valuables to Kim Keon-hee through Jeon.

Yoon was also charged with providing 100 million won in illegal political funds to People Power Party lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong, considered a 'Yoon-haek-gwan' (a core associate of Yoon Suk-yeol), on January 5, 2022, before the presidential election, with a request to support a church event.

The first and second courts found all these charges against former Secretary-General Yoon guilty.

Although the charge of embezzling Unification Church funds to purchase the bag and necklace was partially ruled not guilty in the first trial, the second trial overturned this and found him guilty on all counts.

The second trial court recognized the intent to illegally acquire property, stating, "Regardless of whether it was before or after the presidential inauguration, there is no essential difference in the illegality or culpability of using religious organization funds under the pretext of providing gifts to the spouse of the president-elect or the president to solicit favors."

Regarding the charge of destroying evidence related to police investigations into overseas gambling by Unification Church President Hak Ja Han, which he allegedly obtained from lawmaker Kweon, the court dismissed the indictment on the grounds that it was not subject to investigation under the Special Prosecutor Act.

Former Secretary-General Yoon was sentenced to one year and two months in prison in the first trial, but the sentence was increased to one year and six months in the second trial.

On this day, the Supreme Court dismissed all appeals filed by the special prosecutor and former Secretary-General Yoon.

Kim Keon-hee and lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong were indicted on charges including receiving illicit money and valuables from former Secretary-General Yoon, and were sentenced to four years and two years in prison, respectively, in the second trial, with their appeals currently underway.

In addition to receiving money and valuables from the Unification Church, Kim Keon-hee also faces charges of participating in stock price manipulation of Deutsch Motors, resulting in unfair profits worth 810 million won, and conspiring with former President Yoon to receive public opinion poll results worth 270 million won from Myung Tae-kyun.

With the guilty verdicts for Jeon and former Secretary-General Yoon confirmed on this day, the possibility that the lower court rulings finding Kim Keon-hee and lawmaker Kweon guilty will be upheld has increased.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.