By Blessing Nweke
Two Chanel handbags, a BMW dealership and a controversial church will take centre stage this week as South Korea awaits a landmark court verdict involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee.
Kim, 52, the wife of disgraced former president Yoon Suk Yeol, will receive a ruling on Wednesday in the first of three criminal cases against her. The trial, broadcast live, marks the first time in South Korean history that a presidential spouse has been indicted while in detention.
Arrested in August, Kim faces multiple charges including bribery, stock manipulation and political interference, all of which she denies. Prosecutors allege she earned more than 800 million won ($552,000) through a price-rigging scheme tied to Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer, between 2010 and 2012. She is also accused of accepting luxury gifts — including Chanel handbags and a diamond necklace — worth up to 80 million won from the Unification Church in exchange for business favours.
In addition, Kim is alleged to have received 58 free opinion polls valued at 270 million won ahead of the 2022 presidential election, an accusation prosecutors say amounts to illegal election meddling.
Kim has long been a polarising figure. A former businesswoman and art exhibition executive, she has faced repeated controversies, including allegations of plagiarism that led Sookmyung Women’s University to annul her degree in 2025, and past claims of tax evasion linked to her company, Covana Contents, from which she later stepped down.
Public scrutiny intensified in late 2023 after hidden-camera footage emerged showing her receiving a luxury handbag, raising potential violations of South Korea’s Anti-Graft Act. Kim admitted receiving Chanel bags but said she returned them unused.
Prosecutors are seeking a 15-year prison sentence and a 2 billion won fine, arguing Kim “stood above the law” and undermined the separation of religion and state.
The verdict comes less than two weeks after Yoon himself was sentenced to five years in prison over his failed 2024 martial law attempt. Together, Yoon and Kim have become South Korea’s first former presidential couple to both face jail, sealing a dramatic fall from power.
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