South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison after a Seoul court found her guilty of accepting luxury gifts and other valuables as bribes in exchange for using her political influence to secure government appointments and business favors.
The ruling marks another major legal setback for the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office in 2025 after his failed attempt to impose martial law and is now serving a life sentence for his role in the ensuing political crisis.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Kim accepted a series of expensive gifts before and during her husband’s presidency while leveraging her position as first lady to benefit individuals seeking influence within government institutions.
“She exercised her power as first lady to offer jobs and business favours,” the presiding judge said while delivering the verdict.
The court said Kim willingly accepted valuable gifts in return for helping people obtain influential government and parliamentary positions, adding that she showed little hesitation in receiving benefits that ordinary citizens would rarely encounter during their lifetimes.
According to the court, the bribes included a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, a Tiffany brooch, a pair of Graff earrings, a Dior handbag, a gold turtle ornament, a Vacheron Constantin watch valued at 39 million won, or about $25,350, and a painting worth approximately 140 million won.
The judge concluded that Kim’s conduct significantly undermined public confidence in the integrity and fairness of government appointments, saying her actions damaged trust in public institutions by allowing personal influence to shape official decisions.
Court documents identified several individuals who allegedly provided the gifts while seeking favors from the former first lady.
Among them was the owner of a construction company who wanted his son-in-law appointed to a government position, a pastor attempting to expand his connections with senior officials, the former president of a private university, and the chief executive of a robotic dog retailer seeking to secure contracts with South Korea’s presidential security service.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court imposed a fine of 64.8 million won and ordered authorities to confiscate any bribery-related gifts that can still be recovered.
Kim denied all allegations throughout the proceedings.
Her attorney said she would appeal the verdict, arguing that the court overstated evidence unfavorable to the former first lady. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that the defense intends to challenge both the conviction and the sentence.
Friday’s judgment adds to Kim’s growing list of criminal convictions.
She is already serving a four-year prison sentence handed down in April after being found guilty of stock price manipulation and accepting separate bribes linked to South Korea’s Unification Church.
The latest conviction further deepens the legal troubles surrounding the country’s former first family, whose downfall has become one of the most significant political scandals in recent South Korean history.
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life imprisonment in February after being convicted of masterminding an insurrection connected to his brief declaration of martial law in late 2024, an action that triggered a constitutional crisis, mass political protests and ultimately his removal from office.
Together, the convictions of Yoon and Kim represent an extraordinary collapse for a couple who once occupied the highest levels of South Korean political power and now face lengthy prison terms stemming from separate criminal cases involving abuse of authority, corruption and constitutional violations.
