A Seoul district court on Monday sentenced former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to two years in prison after finding him partially guilty of accepting illegal political funds in the form of free opinion polls from a self-proclaimed power broker.
The Seoul Central District Court convicted the jailed former president of violating the Political Funds Act, in a ruling that marked a departure from a separate trial in which his wife was acquitted on the same charges.
Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team had earlier indicted Yoon on charges of colluding with his wife, former first lady Kim Keon Hee, to receive 58 opinion polls worth about 270 million won (USD 180,100) free of charge from the power broker, Myung Tae-kyun, between April 2021 and March 2022, Yonhap News Agency reported.
In its ruling, the court found that Yoon had received 14 opinion polls free of charge from Myung during the period. It sentenced him to two years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of 13.96 million won.
The court accepted the special counsel team’s argument that Yoon had promised to support former lawmaker Kim Young-sun’s nomination as the conservative People Power Party’s candidate in the June 2022 parliamentary by-elections in exchange for the opinion polls.
“The defendant’s actions sowed distrust in politics and undermined public trust in the development of democracy,” the court said. “A punishment commensurate with the wrongdoing is inevitable.”
The court also sentenced Myung to 18 months in prison on the same charges.
The special counsel team had sought a four-year prison sentence for Yoon and a three-year term for Myung.
The ruling diverged from an appellate court’s decision to acquit Yoon’s wife on charges of accepting free opinion polls from Myung in a separate trial.
In Kim’s acquittal in April, the Seoul High Court ruled that the couple could not be considered to have benefited from the opinion polls, as Myung had provided similar surveys to others as well. Min’s team has appealed the ruling.
Following Monday’s verdict, Yoon’s lawyers said they would appeal, describing the decision as “difficult to understand” in light of the former first lady’s acquittal.
The special counsel team described the ruling as “very meaningful”, saying the bench had closely examined the evidence and arguments presented during the trial.
The conviction marks the latest legal setback for Yoon, who is facing multiple trials following his failed 2024 martial law bid. In February, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for leading an insurrection through his short-lived imposition of martial law.
(IANS)
