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Agence France-Presse

A South Korean court sentenced former first lady Kim Keon-hee, already serving time behind bars for corruption, to another seven years’ imprisonment on Friday in a jobs-for-gifts scandal.
Kim, 53, was found guilty of accepting “high-value precious metals” in exchange for favours in personnel appointments, according to the live-streamed ruling.
The court said she “unhesitatingly accepted valuables of a kind that the average citizen would struggle to acquire even once in a lifetime”.
Kim is serving a four-year sentence for stock manipulation and bribery.
She was indicted in December on additional charges including accepting jewellery worth a total of 103 million won (US$67,000).
They included a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, a Tiffany brooch and Graff earrings, from a construction magnate in 2022.
In return, she offered to secure a position for his son-in-law.
Kim was also found guilty of accepting a gold turtle figurine worth 2.65 million won from a politician and a Vacheron Constantin wristwatch worth 39 million won from a “robot dog” business entrepreneur.
She received the bribes before and during her husband Yoon Suk-yeol’s presidency, the lead judge at the Seoul Central District Court said.
“She exercised ⁠her power as first lady to offer jobs and business favours,” the judge said, citing Kim’s willingness to use her ‌influence to help people obtain key government or parliamentary posts.
The judge said ‌Kim’s actions seriously hurt public trust in the fairness of public appointments.


At her final trial hearing on May 15, prosecutors had demanded she serve a prison sentence of seven-and-a-half years for “trading in offices and favours”.
She was accused of repeatedly accepting money and valuables by leveraging her status as the spouse of the president, himself behind bars.
He was sentenced to life in prison in February for masterminding an insurrection tied to his short-lived imposition of martial law in 2024.
Kim had maintained her innocence, arguing that while she did receive gifts, there were no requests for favours attached to them.
A self-proclaimed animal-lover known for her campaigns to ban the dog-meat trade in South Korea, she was at the centre of several scandals that often eclipsed her husband’s tenure in office.
The court also fined Kim 64.8 million won and ordered the confiscation of items given ⁠as bribes if they could be located.
Her lawyer told reporters she would appeal the ruling, accusing the judge of exaggerating evidence unfavourable to Kim, the Yonhap News Agency ‌reported.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Kim was found guilty of accepting ‘high-value precious metals’ in exchange for favours in personnel appointments


Kim was found guilty of accepting ‘high-value precious metals’ in exchange for favours in personnel appointments.


Corruption in Asia

Yoon Suk-yeol

South Korean ex-first lady Kim Keon-hee gets 7 years in jail for bribery

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Kim was found guilty of accepting ‘high-value precious metals’ in exchange for favours in personnel appointments

Kim was found guilty of accepting ‘high-value precious metals’ in exchange for favours in personnel appointments