Gavin Butlerand
Hyojung Kim,BBC World Service
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The scandals Kim Keon Hee faces predate her husband Yoon’s ill-fated political profession
Two Chanel purses, a BMW dealership and a controversial church had been on the centre of a trial confronted by South Korea’s former first woman, Kim Keon Hee.
The spouse of disgraced former president Yoon Suk Yeol, she was arrested in August over a raft of prices together with bribery, inventory manipulation, and political interference – all of which she denies.
Prosecutors had accused Kim, 52, of making greater than 800 million received ($552,570; £404,050) by collaborating in a price-rigging scheme involving the shares of Deutsch Motors, a BMW vendor in South Korea, between October 2010 and December 2012.
She was additionally accused of accepting luxury luggage, a diamond necklace and different items price as much as 80m received as bribes from the controversial Unification Church in change for enterprise favours, and receiving 58 free opinion polls, price 270 million Korean received, from political dealer Myung Tae-kyun earlier than the 2022 presidential election.
On Wednesday, a court docket discovered her responsible of accepting bribes from Unification Church officers, sentencing her to 20-months in jail.
However, she was cleared on prices of inventory value manipulation and violating South Korea’s marketing campaign financing legal guidelines. There are nonetheless two circumstances in opposition to her that the court docket is set to listen to in future months.
The verdict comes lower than a fortnight after her husband was sentenced to jail for abusing energy and obstructing justice in relation to his failed martial regulation bid.
It additionally marks the first time in historical past {that a} presidential partner has been indicted whereas detained.
But it is removed from the first time Kim herself has been embroiled in controversy.
Questionable credentials
Before she was South Korea’s first woman, Kim Keon Hee – born Kim Myeong-sin – was a businesswoman and artwork lover.
She graduated with an artwork training diploma from Sookmyung Women’s University in 1999, however would later face repeated allegations of plagiarism over her time as a pupil there – main the college to annul her diploma in 2025 after its analysis ethics panel discovered her thesis was compromised.
She has by no means commented on these allegations publicly.
In 2009, she based artwork exhibition firm Covana Contents, for which she is nonetheless CEO and president – however in 2019 South Korean media reported that she had allegedly evaded paying taxes and acquired kickbacks for internet hosting artwork exhibitions.
Kim, who has stood down from her position, was cleared of these prices in 2023, however the particular counsel is at the moment re-examining the case.
Then, forward of the 2022 presidential election which her husband finally received, allegations emerged that Kim had submitted functions to universities and firms containing false {qualifications} and awards, sparking a scandal over doubtlessly fabricated credentials.
In response to those allegations, which some opposition members had sought to make use of as a political cudgel in opposition to Yoon, Kim issued a public apology for what she described as “exaggerations” on her resume.
She additional pledged that if her husband grew to become president she would “focus solely on my role as his wife”.
It is her conduct whereas in that position, nevertheless, that has drawn some of the fiercest backlash.
The purse scandal
In late-2023, spy digital camera footage surfaced exhibiting Kim receiving a luxury purse from a person in a Seoul workplace in September 2022.
The footage was reported to have been secretly filmed by the pastor Choi Jae-young utilizing a digital camera embedded in his watch – and its publication intensified public scrutiny on each Kim and Yoon.
It appeared to indicate Mr Choi strolling to a retailer to buy the greyish-blue calfskin bag, with a receipt placing its value at 3 million received ($2,200; £1,800). Mr Choi then visits Covana Contents, an organization in Seoul owned by the first woman, the place Ms Kim then asks the pastor: “Why do you keep bringing me these things?”
South Korean regulation makes it unlawful for public officers and their spouses to obtain items price greater than 1 million received in a single go, or a complete of 3 million received inside a fiscal 12 months.
And whereas the video didn’t explicitly present Ms Kim accepting the reward, the Korea Herald reported on the time that the presidential workplace confirmed receipt of the bag and stated that it was “being managed and stored as a property of the government”.
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Yoon Suk Yeol and Kim Keon Hee mark the first time each a former president and former first woman have been jailed
The presidential workplace didn’t instantly reply to the protection, additional fuelling the controversy, as civic teams filed complaints with the prosecution citing potential violations of the Anti-Graft Act.
This incident was one of 16 allegations appeared into by the particular counsel group, 12 of which had been handed to police for additional investigation.
Wednesday’s verdict, nevertheless, targeted on Kim allegedly accepting different bribes from the Unification Church, in addition to her alleged involvement in Deutsch Motors inventory manipulation and alleged election meddling.
Kim denied the fees – though she did admit to receiving Chanel luggage, which she says she later returned with out utilizing.
Prosecutors had final month referred to as for a 15-year jail time period and a high quality of 2 billion received, saying she had “stood above the law” and colluded with the Unification Church to undermine the “constitutionally mandated separation of religion and state”.
Disgrace
While Kim’s string of scandals forged a shadow over her husband’s presidential profession, it was Yoon himself who finally sealed his personal destiny as one of South Korea’s most disgraced former leaders.
On 16 January, Yoon was discovered responsible of abuse of energy, falsifying paperwork and obstructing justice when he tried and didn’t impose martial regulation within the nation in 2024. He has additionally been sentenced to 5 years in jail.
It was the first of the verdicts in 4 trials linked to Yoon’s shock martial regulation decree. Although short-lived, the transfer triggered nationwide turmoil, sparking protests as MPs rushed to the nationwide meeting to overturn Yoon’s determination.
Yoon’s actions “plunged the country into political crisis”, a decide stated whereas delivering the decision, noting that Yoon had “consistently shown no remorse”.
It was throughout a year-long probe into Yoon’s failed martial regulation try that particular prosecutors began investigating many of the allegations in opposition to Kim.
Together, the once-powerful-couple make a historic pair: whereas South Korea has a historical past of former presidents being indicted and imprisoned, Yoon and Kim mark the first time each a former president and former first woman have been jailed.
