Kim Keon-hee: shaman’s bribery verdict strikes a legal blow to South Korea’s ex-first lady

He called himself a spiritual guide. Prosecutors called him a fixer. This week, a court in Seoul called him something else: guilty of accepting bribes – a verdict that may yet determine the fate of South Korea’s disgraced former first lady Kim Keon-hee. The man at the centre of it all is Jeon Seong-bae, a high-profile shaman better known as “Monk” Gunjin who was convicted on Tuesday of acting as a go-between for Kim and senior figures of the Unification Church – channelling luxury gifts, cash and requests for political favours through the back corridors of presidential power. Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 33 sentenced him to six years in prison, one year more than prosecutors had sought. The ruling throws Kim’s own appeal, already among the most politically charged legal proceedings in the country’s recent history, into sharp relief. Gunjin was found guilty of a wide range of influence-peddling during the tenure of Kim’s husband, the now-jailed former president Yoon Suk-yeol. As Yoon was settling into office in early 2022, Gunjin colluded with Kim to receive two Chanel handbags worth a combined 20 million won (US$14,000) and a Graff diamond necklace valued at 60 million won from a senior Unification Church official as payment for favours on church-related matters, the court found. He was also found guilty of pocketing a further 30 million won for brokering those requests and collecting 205 million won more in cash and valuables through influence-peddling stretching into January this year. Presiding Judge Lee Jin-gwan ruled that Gunjin had repeatedly relayed requests from the Unification Church to Yoon through Kim, creating “a close relationship” and what he described as improper collusion – citing the constitution’s foundational principle of separation between religion and state. ‘Grease payments’ It is the specifics of Judge Lee’s reasoning, rather than Gunjin’s sentence alone, that most directly threaten Kim’s appeal. Last month, a separate court panel led by Senior Judge Woo In-sung sentenced Kim to 20 months in prison but cleared her of the charge related to the first of the two Chanel bags, delivered in April 2022. Woo found the bag had been offered as a celebratory gift for Yoon’s election victory, with no explicit request for favours attached. He applied a raft of mitigating factors: Kim had not “proactively” demanded the gifts, there was no evidence she had passed the church’s requests to Yoon or sought to fulfil them, she had expressed belated remorse and she had no prior criminal record. The ruling did not entirely absolve her, however. Judge Woo acknowledged the unique and informal power a first lady wields as the president’s closest confidante. “Even if she failed to set an example, she should never become a negative example to the public,” he said. Still, the comparatively lenient sentence triggered a backlash and accusations of judicial bias, with critics pointing to a Supreme Court stacked by Yoon – fuelling calls in the Democratic Party-controlled National Assembly for sweeping judicial reform. Judge Lee’s ruling, by contrast, found that the first Chanel bag was delivered to Kim with “implicit” expectations of government favours, given the church’s active support for Yoon’s election campaign. Rejecting the defence’s argument that an item worth more than 8 million won could be an innocent inauguration gift, Lee ruled that both bags and the Graff necklace formed a single, indivisible act of bribery – a “grease payment” – directly contradicting his colleague’s earlier interpretation. A shared downfall Legal observers say the gulf between the two rulings, and the severity of Gunjin’s sentence, make for uncomfortable reading ahead of Kim’s appeal. “Monk Gunjin’s case and Kim Keon-hee’s case are like two sides of the same coin,” said lawyer Noh Hee-bum, a former Constitutional Court spokesman. “Gunjin’s case is widely expected to overshadow Kim’s appeal court ruling.” Kim has appealed her 20-month sentence. Special prosecutors appointed by the National Assembly had sought a far harsher outcome – 15 years in prison and a 2 billion won (US$1.4 million) fine – arguing that the misconduct stretched beyond what existing anti-corruption laws were designed to address. A second special investigation has also been launched to examine additional corruption allegations against both Kim and Yoon, including his short-lived declaration of martial law in late 2024 that ultimately proved the undoing of his presidency. Yoon himself is fighting a parallel legal battle. The 65-year-old’s lawyers confirmed on Tuesday that he had appealed against a life sentence earlier handed down for insurrection by a court that found he had sought to shut down the National Assembly by deploying troops: conduct it ruled was unconstitutional. Appearing in court, Yoon denounced the insurrection verdict as illogical, insisting his actions were “solely for the sake of the nation and our people” and accusing the presiding judge of bias. His lawyers were more pointed in their public statement. “We think we have a responsibility to clearly point out the problems with this decision not only for court records but for future historical records,” his legal team said in a statement. “We will not be silent about the special counsel’s overzealous indictment and the contradictory decision of the court of first instance premised on it, as well as its political background.” Beyond the insurrection case, Yoon faces multiple additional trials over alleged corruption committed during a presidency that was cut short by his impeachment and eventual removal from office in April last year. For both him and Kim, the courtroom battles are far from over – but Tuesday’s verdict may have made them harder to win.

Kim Keon-hee: shaman’s bribery verdict strikes a legal blow to South Korea’s ex-first lady

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A judge has ruled luxury gifts passed to Kim Keon-hee were ‘grease payments’, contradicting an earlier verdict and threatening her appeal

A judge has ruled luxury gifts passed to Kim Keon-hee were ‘grease payments’, contradicting an earlier verdict and threatening her appeal