Kim Keon-hee, who was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison at the first trial on charges of receiving money and valuables from the Unification Church side, appealed the ruling.
Kim's side filed a notice of appeal with Criminal Division 27 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Woo In-seong) on the 2nd. The special prosecutor investigating Kim Keon-hee was also reported to have appealed on the 30th of last month. In the appeal, Kim's side is expected to contest as not guilty the parts that were found partly guilty at the first trial, or argue that the sentence was unjust.
Kim's legal team issued a statement saying it "humbly accepts the court's criticism and apologizes for some inappropriate conduct," but added that it is appealing to correct the facts regarding the findings that items linked to the Unification Church's requests were received and the part that was "deemed received even though they were not actually received."
The team argued that the investigation and indictment were a "distortion involving political power" and an unlawful investigation and abuse of prosecutorial power. It said resources on the scale of a single district prosecutors' office and a budget of about 20 billion won were投入, and that excessive procedures beyond the scope of the investigation were repeated.
Earlier, on the 28th of last month, the first trial court sentenced Kim to one year and eight months in prison on charges including bribery for brokerage, ordered the forfeiture of a seized diamond necklace from Graff in the U.K., and ordered 12.81 million won in additional collection. The court said, "Kim, tied to the Unification Church's requests, failed to reject the expensive luxury goods offered, accepted them, and focused on self-adornment. Kim misused her position as a means of pursuing profit," adding, "She also (asked) people around her to make false statements in relation to the receipt of money and valuables."
However, regarding the Deutsch Motors stock-price manipulation charges, the court found some were time-barred, and the remaining charges were not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, ruling not guilty. On the allegation that she received free public opinion polls from political broker Myeong Tae-gyun, the court also found not guilty, saying Kim did not order the polls and that Myeong distributed the polls to various people, including former President Yoon Suk-yeol and his spouse, as part of his business, so they could not be viewed as property benefits.
From Oct. 2010 to Dec. 2012, Kim was indicted and detained on charges of conspiring with former Deutsch Motors Chairman Kwon Oh-soo and former Black Pearl Invest CEO Lee Jong-ho, who managed accounts, to gain an unlawful profit of about 811.44 million won through high-price purchases, wash trades, and matched orders. She also faces charges that from Apr. to Jul. 2022 she conspired with "Geonjin" Jeon Seong-bae to receive, along with the Unification Church's requests, a diamond necklace from Graff in the U.K. and a Chanel bag, among other items, totaling about 80 million won. Additional charges were brought that from Jun. 2021 to Mar. 2022 she conspired with former President Yoon to receive a total of about 270 million won worth of public opinion polls from Myeong free of charge.