South Korea’s Former First Lady Sentenced to Prison as Ex-President Faces Possible Death Penalty

By Anietie Anii-Bassey

The wife of South Korea’s ousted former president, Yoon Suk Yeol, was sentenced to 20 months in prison on Wednesday after being convicted of corruption, adding another dramatic chapter to the downfall of a once-powerful political couple whose careers collapsed after a failed attempt to impose martial law late last year.

Kim, who had served as first lady until Yoon was removed from office, was convicted by the Seoul Central District Court of accepting luxury gifts — including a diamond necklace — from figures linked to the Unification Church in exchange for promises to use her influence to secure business favors. Judges said she abused the symbolic and political weight that comes with proximity to the presidency.

“Staying close to a president, a first lady can exert significant influence on him and is a symbolic figure who represents the country together with a president,” the court said during a live broadcast of the ruling. “But the defendant exploited her position to seek personal gains.”

The sentence was lighter than prosecutors had sought. An independent counsel appointed to investigate the case had urged the court to impose a 15-year prison term, arguing that Kim had engaged in bribery, stock price manipulation and violations of political funding laws. The panel of judges, however, acquitted her of the latter two charges, citing insufficient evidence to support those allegations.

Kim’s lawyers welcomed the partial acquittals but criticized the prison term as excessive. They said the defense team would confer with their client before deciding whether to appeal.

Kim has been behind bars since August, when a Seoul court approved her arrest on the grounds that she could destroy evidence if allowed to remain free. Shortly before being taken into custody, she issued a public apology for stirring controversy but suggested she would contest the accusations, portraying herself as “someone insignificant” who had been swept up in political turmoil.

Her conviction comes as the nation awaits an even more consequential ruling involving her husband. Yoon, who was impeached and later stripped of the presidency after ordering a brief imposition of martial law in December 2024, is due to receive a verdict in his own criminal trial in roughly three weeks.

He is accused of rebellion for deploying the military in what investigators say was an unconstitutional attempt to consolidate power — a charge that carries the possibility of life imprisonment or even the death penalty. Another independent counsel has formally requested capital punishment.

The former president and his wife have spent months in separate detention facilities while preparing for their respective trials. Investigators have repeatedly stressed that Kim was not involved in the planning or execution of the martial law decree, even as her personal legal troubles deepened.

While Yoon was still in office, Kim was dogged by a series of scandals that battered his approval ratings and handed potent ammunition to political opponents. The controversies included the same three areas examined in Wednesday’s verdict: alleged bribery, stock manipulation and campaign-finance violations.

At the height of the crisis, speculation swirled that Yoon may have resorted to military rule in part to shield his wife from expanding investigations. But prosecutors leading the six-month inquiry into the martial law episode said those suspicions were unsupported.

The team, headed by independent counsel Cho Eun-suk, concluded that Yoon had been preparing for more than a year to invoke emergency powers as part of a broader effort to crush political rivals and entrench his authority.

According to Cho’s findings, there was no evidence that Kim participated in the planning or encouraged the declaration, despite the intense political pressure generated by her scandals.

The once-formidable couple’s fall has stunned the country. Yoon entered office promising reform and a tougher stance on corruption, only to leave in disgrace after the unprecedented move to deploy troops against civilian institutions triggered mass protests, impeachment proceedings and ultimately his removal.

With Kim now formally convicted and Yoon awaiting a potentially historic judgment, South Korea is bracing for another moment of reckoning that could reshape its political landscape — and close the book on one of the most turbulent presidencies in the nation’s modern history.