The special counsel investigating Kim Keon-hee said it will appeal the first-trial ruling that found her not guilty of allegations including the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case and receiving a free opinion poll.
On the 28th, immediately after the first-trial sentencing for Kim, the special counsel issued a notice to the press, saying, "The court's decision is a line of reasoning that is difficult to accept not only legally but also as a matter of common sense, and we cannot possibly agree with it." It added, "The court's sentencing on the guilty count (a sentence of one year and eight months in prison) is also very insufficient given the circumstances," and "We plan to appeal to correct this."
The special counsel plans to file a notice of appeal after receiving the written judgment and discussing it with the team in charge of maintaining the indictment. Under the Criminal Procedure Act, an appeal can be filed within seven days from the date of the ruling.
Earlier, the 27th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (presiding judge Woo In-seong) on the 28th sentenced Kim to one year and eight months in prison on charges of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, violating the Political Funds Act, and violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (bribe mediation).
The court found Kim guilty of bribe mediation in connection with allegations that she received a Chanel bag worth 12 million won and a Graff necklace worth 60 million won from the Unification Church side. In contrast, it found her not guilty of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act in connection with the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation allegations, and not guilty of violating the Political Funds Act in connection with the allegation of receiving a free opinion poll from Myung Tae-gyun.
The special counsel indicted Kim on the view that, as a financier (jeonju) in the 2009–2012 Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case, she colluded with former Deutsch Motors Chairman Kwon Oh-soo and others to place more than 3,700 matched-order trades such as concerted transactions, thereby obtaining 810 million won in illicit gains. It also applied a charge of violating the Political Funds Act on the view that, during the 2022 presidential election, she received free opinion polling 58 times worth about 270 million won from Myung Tae-gyun and then exerted influence in the same year on the People Power Party's nomination of former lawmaker Kim Young-sun in the National Assembly by-election.
Separately, the special counsel indicted Kim on bribe mediation charges on the view that, from April to August 2022, through "Geonjin" Jeon Seong-bae, she received valuables worth about 80 million won, including two Chanel bags and a Graff diamond necklace, from a former senior Unification Church executive, and was asked to help implement Unification Church pending issues such as "official development assistance (ODA) for a site on the Mekong River in Cambodia" and "bringing the United Nations (UN) Fifth Office to Korea."