[Editorial] A slap on the wrist for Korea’s former first woman

Kim Keon-hee, the spouse of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, stands as her sentence is learn in her trial on corruption prices on the Seoul Central District Courtroom on Jan. 28, 2026. (nonetheless from video supplied by Seoul Central District Courtroom)

A court docket discovered Kim Keon-hee not responsible of inventory manipulation and receiving free opinion polls from political dealer Myung Tae-kyun. Discovering her responsible of quid quo professional for accepting luxurious presents from the Unification Church, the court docket sentenced the previous first woman to twenty months in jail. 

Given the severity of Kim’s offenses, the sentence is preposterously mild. 

There are a variety of things that make the court docket’s reasoning for acquitting Kim on a number of counts tough to just accept. There’ll must be a good ruling primarily based on frequent sense within the enchantment and Kim’s different trials on separate prices.
 
A division of the Seoul Central District Courtroom discovered Kim not responsible of violating the Monetary Funding Companies and Capital Markets Act (inventory manipulation) and the Political Funds Act (receiving free opinion polls) in Kim’s first trial.
 
The court docket reasoned that Kim merely acquired the outcomes of opinion polls carried out independently by Myung, clearing Kim of guilt by noting there have been no contracts or specific orders associated to the polls themselves. How can anybody count on these under-the-table transactions to go away behind contracts, and the way can the shortage of a contract be the rationale a court docket finds somebody not responsible?
 
The court docket acknowledged that the nomination of Kim Younger-sun for the Nationwide Meeting seat she later received was a results of debate among the many members of the Folks Energy Get together’s nomination committee, not in alternate for offering opinion polls. 

The ruling flies within the face of mountains of proof, together with a voice recording of Myung by which he says, “Kim Younger-sun’s nomination was a ‘present’ from the primary woman.” We will solely conclude that the court docket was decided to let Kim slide on that depend. 
 
The identical will be stated for the Deutsch Motors inventory worth manipulation prices. The court docket cited a “lack of adequate proof” to show that Kim “contacted the actors manipulating costs to commerce shares.” 

What are we alleged to make of the a whole lot of recordings of Kim talking with a stockbroker worker, in addition to the seven-second wash gross sales textual content? One recording reveals Kim stating, “I handed my account over to Blackpearl Make investments, and I’m supposed to offer them 40% of the revenue.” 

The court docket acknowledged, “The likelihood exists that the defendant, even when solely inadvertently, acknowledged and acquiesced to the truth that her funds could possibly be used for inventory manipulation,” however went on to clear her identify. It’s obscure why, on this occasion, the particular counsel didn’t apply the cost of aiding and abetting.
 
In conclusion, the one prices Kim was discovered responsible of within the first trial had been associated to receiving bribes from the Unification Church: a Chanel purse and a Graff necklace. The sentence, contemplating Kim’s standing because the partner of a former president, is disproportionately low.
 
This may also be attributed to the truth that the particular counsel indicted Kim on solely the naked minimal of prices. Investigations haven’t been carried out relating to further allegations raised in reference to the Myung scandal, equivalent to involvement within the nomination of lawmakers or native authorities heads, or Kim’s reported abuse of energy in transferring ahead with the Changwon Nationwide Industrial Advanced undertaking.
 
Different allegations, which embody involvement within the alteration to the course of a deliberate expressway between Seoul and Yangpyeong, and manipulation of Sambu Building inventory costs, are but to be scrutinized. For this reason the excellent particular counsel probe ought to waste no time in launching its investigation. 

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