The former first lady sentenced to almost two years in prison for corruption

Kim was sentenced for accepting luxury gifts in 2022 from a shaman and members of the Unification Church in exchange for favors for the organization, according to the Seoul Central District Court ruling announced in a live televised hearing. The sentence also contemplates the payment of a fine of about $9,000.

The conviction against Kim, the first against a former first lady in the history of South Koreais considerably less than the fifteen years in prison demanded by the Prosecutor’s Office, which had also requested a fine of more than one million dollars.

Ultimately, the court only found Kim guilty of accepting some of the assets prosecutors indicated. The former first lady was acquitted of irregular political financing charge of which the Prosecutor’s Office accused her, as well as the alleged manipulation of shares of Deutsch Motors, a local BMW distributor, between 2010 and 2012.

Kim, in pretrial detention since August, faces two other legal proceedings: one for his alleged involvement in the mass recruitment of members of the Unification Church to join the then ruling People Power Party (PPP) and another for allegedly accepting luxury gifts in exchange for labor favors in the Government.

The leader of the pejoratively known as the ‘Moon sect’, Han Hak-ja, and the former head of the church’s global headquarters, Yun Yeong-ho, also face legal proceedings amid growing scrutiny in the Asian country against this organization, known for its mass weddings, as well as its international political and economic influence.

The ruling comes days after Kim’s husband, former President Yoon Suk-yeolwas sentenced to five years in prison in one of the eight judicial proceedings he faces, half of them related to his failed imposition of martial law in December 2024, which cost him his dismissal.