KOR
▲ Former President Yoon Seok-yeol (left) and Myung Tae-kyun
Former President Yoon Seok-yeol, indicted on charges of receiving free opinion polls from political broker Myung Tae-kyun, has once again faced a prison term recommendation from prosecutors during his appellate trial.
The appellate court's sentencing is scheduled for the 7th of next month.
During the final sentencing hearing for Yoon's Political Funds Act violation appeal—presided over by Senior Judge Ku Hoe-geun of the 7th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court today (the 11th)—the independent counsel team requested that the court sentence Yoon to four years in prison and an additional forfeiture of 137.2 million won.
A three-year prison term was demanded for Myung Tae-kyun, who was indicted alongside him.
The sentencing recommendations for both individuals are identical to those demanded during the first trial.
The special counsel team emphasized that the appellate court should also find them guilty of the allegations regarding the free provision of opinion polls that were ruled not guilty in the first trial.
The special counsel stated, "The opinion polls in this case were artificially conducted to produce results favorable to former President Yoon," pointing out that "they did not simply stop at receiving opinion polls from Myung, but closely consulted on survey methods and media outlets."
They added, "This undermined representative democracy and impaired the transparency and fairness of the political party candidate nomination process," noting that "the severity of the crime is significant, necessitating strict punishment."
In contrast, Yoon's legal team maintained his innocence, arguing that Myung merely conducted the polls independently to expand his own influence and promote himself, subsequently sharing them with various politicians.
In his final statement, Yoon said, "Even before I declared my entry into politics until I was elected president, I was leading in almost all opinion polls, so manipulating opinion polls is out of the question," adding, "People said we needed to step up for a regime change, and it was because of the opinion polls that I entered politics."
He further stated, "Neither my wife (Kim Keon-hee) nor I have the capacity to analyze opinion polls," and noted, "If necessary, we could have easily requested opinion polls by receiving funds from the party."
Myung said, "I am sorry for causing turmoil in the country," and pleaded, "Please allow me to return to my family and live as a functioning member of society."
Yoon was put on trial on charges of conspiring with Kim Keon-hee to receive 58 opinion polls worth a total of approximately 270 million won free of charge from Myung between June 2021 and March 2022.
The first trial court recognized 14 instances of opinion polls—where Myung directly delivered the results to Yoon and his wife—as guilty.
It sentenced Yoon to two years in prison and Myung to one year and six months in prison, respectively.
However, the court ruled that the remaining 44 opinion polls could not be conclusively determined as having been provided based on an agreement with Yoon and his wife, as Myung did not deliver them directly.
Meanwhile, Kim Keon-hee was found not guilty on the same charges in both the first and second trials and is currently awaiting a ruling from the Supreme Court.
The trial benches for Kim's first and second trials concluded that Myung provided the opinion polls unilaterally without prior requests or consultations, with the objective of promoting business activities for his polling agency or expanding his political influence.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
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