The wife of impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol will serve four years in prison after an appeals court found her guilty of stock manipulation and bribery, nearly doubling a lower court sentence and marking another chapter in a political scandal that has consumed South Korea’s highest office.
Kim Keon Hee, 53, saw her prison term jump from 20 months to four years on April 28, 2026, when the Seoul High Court reversed an earlier acquittal on stock manipulation charges while upholding her conviction for accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church. Judges also ordered her to pay a 50 million won fine and forfeit a Graff diamond necklace.
“The court sentences the defendant to four years in prison and imposes a 50 million won fine,” the bench announced in a televised verdict.
A Couple Convicted Together
Kim and Yoon became the first former presidential couple in South Korean history convicted at the same time when a ruling came down earlier this year. Yoon was initially sentenced to five years for abusing power and obstructing justice tied to his December 2024 martial law declaration. He received a life sentence in a separate case. Prosecutors are separately pursuing the death penalty against him on insurrection charges. A former prime minister was found guilty of insurrection and sentenced to 23 years.
Formally removed from office in April 2025, Yoon faces a cascade of trials. He has appealed his convictions, insisting he acted in the country’s interest and accusing his political opponents of collusion.
From Blue House to Prison Cell
Kim has been jailed since August 2025, when a court approved her arrest warrant, and made a public apology when she appeared for questioning that month.
“I am truly sorry that a nobody like me has caused concern to the people,” she said in August 2025.
Her fall from grace caps a stunning reversal of fortune for a woman who once held court alongside her husband at the presidential residence. The scandals trailing her predate Yoon’s downfall. Hidden camera footage of Kim accepting a luxury Dior handbag surfaced in 2023, eroding the standing of Yoon, who had won the presidency the previous year. The fallout helped tip the April 2024 general elections against his People Power Party. The opposition then advanced three bills demanding investigations into Kim’s conduct. Yoon vetoed each of them. His final veto came in November 2024, a week before he stunned the country by declaring martial law.
Sookmyung Women’s University annulled the art education degree Kim received in 1999 in 2025, after an ethics panel concluded she had plagiarized her master’s thesis. Investigations into her dealings with the Unification Church also led to the arrest of church leader Han Hak-ja, who has denied directing the organization to bribe Kim.
A Sentence Doubled on Appeal
A lower court had sentenced Kim to 20 months for accepting two Chanel handbags and a diamond pendant from the Unification Church. That court had cleared her of the more serious stock manipulation charge and of receiving free opinion polls from a political broker, citing insufficient evidence. Prosecutors, who had sought a 15-year term, appealed. So did Kim.
The appellate panel concluded that Kim had participated in manipulating the price of thinly traded shares in Deutsch Motors alongside multiple traders. The judges also found she knew that the Unification Church — which delivered roughly 80 million won in gifts between April and July 2022 — expected political favors for its overseas business in return.
“She damaged public trust in government transparency and caused a rift in public opinion over national affairs,” the lead judge said.
Her lawyers said they would appeal to the Supreme Court. The special counsel team also filed an appeal with the Supreme Court on May 5. The appellate court did clear Kim of separate charges of breaching election law, though it upheld a finding that she illegally backed a candidate in a 2022 by-election.
Outside the Seoul High Court on the day of the appellate ruling, a small group of loyalists gathered with banners and scarves bearing slogans such as “Yoon, again” and “Make Korea Great Again,” echoing rhetoric that Yoon’s supporters have increasingly adopted.
Judge in Appeal Found Dead
The case took a grim turn on May 6. Shin Jong-o, the judge who presided over Kim’s appellate trial and authored the harsher sentence, was found unconscious at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at Seocho district police station said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.
There is no sign of foul play in the death, the investigator said. Although local media reported that Shin had left a note, the investigator said none was found. Shin’s bereaved family is stricken by the incident and has requested privacy, police added.
It was Shin who declared from the bench that Kim had “failed to acknowledge her culpability and has instead consistently resorted to excuses” — words that now resonate through a case still moving toward South Korea’s highest court.