South Korea’s former first lady will spend four years behind bars after an appeals court nearly doubled her corruption sentence, capping a stunning reversal of fortune for a woman who once held court alongside her husband at the presidential residence — and deepening a national reckoning over the couple now widely blamed for the country’s gravest recent constitutional crisis.
Kim Keon Hee, 53, the wife of impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol, had her prison term increased from 20 months to four years on April 28, 2026, when judges at the Seoul High Court overturned a lower court’s acquittal on stock manipulation charges and reaffirmed her conviction for accepting bribes from the Unification Church. The court also imposed a 50 million won fine and ordered the confiscation of 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, according to the appellate ruling.
A Sentence Doubled on Appeal
The increase marked a sharp escalation from the judgment handed down on Jan. 28, 2026, when Judge Woo In-sung at the Seoul Central District Court 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 the Unification Church — which delivered the 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 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.
From Blue House to Prison Cell
Kim’s trajectory from first lady to inmate has been swift and unsparing. She 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 at the time.
The scandals trailing her predate her husband’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 last year annulled the art education degree Kim received in 1999, 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 Couple Convicted Together
The January ruling made Kim and Yoon the first former presidential couple in South Korean history convicted at the same time. Yoon was initially sentenced to five years for abusing power and obstructing justice tied to his December 2024 martial law declaration. In February 2026, he was handed 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.
Yoon was formally removed from office in April 2025 and 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.
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 the rhetoric of President Trump that Yoon’s supporters have increasingly adopted.
Judge in Appeal Found Dead
The case took a grim turn this week. Shin Jong-o, the judge who presided over Kim’s appellate trial and authored the harsher sentence, was found unconscious around 1 a.m. 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 last month 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.
