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SEOUL — A special counsel team has requested that South Korea's Supreme Court postpone its ruling on former first lady Kim Keon Hee's charges of receiving free opinion polls in collusion with her husband, former President Yoon Suk Yeol. The request comes one day after a district court convicted Yoon on related charges, as reported by Yonhap News.

The Supreme Court confirmed it has pushed back the sentencing hearing, originally scheduled for Thursday, to next Friday, according to Yonhap. The postponement follows special counsel Min Joong-ki's request for additional time to submit opinions reflecting the court's findings in Yoon's trial.

Coverage Comparison

Two reports from Yonhap News, both published in mid-July, detail the same series of events: the special counsel's request, the Supreme Court's decision to delay the ruling, and the underlying cases against Yoon and Kim.

Both reports note that an appellate court had cleared Kim of the free opinion poll charges in April. A Seoul district court, however, convicted Yoon on Monday of receiving 14 opinion polls for free, sentencing him to two years in prison. The reports also mention that Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed power broker, received an 18-month prison term in connection with the case.

One report specifies that the special counsel has appealed the appellate court ruling that acquitted Kim, while the other notes the special counsel's team cited the need for the court to consider Yoon's conviction on charges covered by Kim's trial.

Key Claims

  • The special counsel team, led by Min Joong-ki, requested the Supreme Court postpone its ruling on Kim Keon Hee's charges, according to legal sources cited by Yonhap News.
  • The Supreme Court postponed the sentencing hearing to next Friday, as reported by Yonhap News.
  • Former President Yoon Suk Yeol was convicted by a Seoul district court of accepting illegal political funds in the form of free opinion polls from Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed power broker, and was sentenced to two years in prison.
  • The couple was indicted on charges of receiving 58 opinion polls for free from Myung in exchange for their support of a former lawmaker in a parliamentary by-election in June 2022. One report values the polls at about 570 million won; the other at about 270 million won.
  • An appellate court cleared Kim of the free opinion poll charges in April, though it sentenced her to four years in prison on separate charges, including involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme and accepting bribes from the Unification Church, as detailed in one of the reports.
  • The Seoul High Court, in acquitting Kim, ruled that the couple could not be seen as profiting off the opinion polls because Myung had provided them to other people as well, according to one report.