The Supreme Court Full Bench, presided over by Justice Park Young-jae, will hold a continued hearing on October 22 for the final appeal regarding First Lady Kim Keon-hee's alleged violation of the Political Funds Act.

The Supreme Court previously postponed the sentencing of Kim, which had been scheduled for July, and referred the case to the Full Bench. It then held its first full bench hearing on September 29, about two months later.

Kim's detention period is set to expire on October 31. While speculation arose that a sentencing date might be set following the first deliberation session, the court has decided to proceed with an additional hearing.

There is still a possibility that the Supreme Court could reach a conclusion during the full bench session on October 22 and schedule a sentencing date before her detention expires.

However, considering that full bench hearings are typically held once a month, a sentencing date may not be announced by that time.

In such a scenario, the special counsel team plans to request an additional detention warrant in Kim's separate final appeal regarding office-selling allegations.

The core legal issue of the case is whether conducting opinion polls or providing their results related to the "Myeong Tae-gyun opinion poll" allegations constitutes a political fund donation prohibited by the Political Funds Act.

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his spouse were each put on trial on charges of receiving 58 free opinion polls worth a total of 270 million won from Myeong Tae-gyun between June 2021 and March 2022.

Kim was acquitted in both the first and second trials regarding these charges.

The Supreme Court had originally planned to issue a ruling on July 16, but postponed the sentencing date after former President Yoon, who was indicted on the same charges, was found guilty in his first trial, differing from Kim's outcome.

That same month, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon—who was indicted on charges of receiving opinion polls from Myeong and having a supporter cover the costs instead—was also found guilty in his first trial, prompting the Supreme Court to refer Kim's case to the Full Bench.

However, on October 7, the second trial for former President Yoon's case overturned the lower court's ruling and acquitted him.

The reasoning was that under the Political Funds Act, a political fund donation is established when there is a financial benefit; since only political assistance that is difficult to convert into a financial benefit was provided, it does not fall under the regulatory scope of the Political Funds Act.

Kim's legal representatives have also submitted an opinion letter to the Supreme Court asking it to take into consideration the second-trial ruling for former President Yoon.