South Korean former first lady Kim Keon Hee was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Seoul Central District Court on June 26, 2026, for accepting bribes including luxury items in exchange for political favors such as securing government and parliamentary posts for associates and business benefits [1, 2, 3]. The court also fined her 64.8 million won (around $42,000) and ordered the confiscation of bribed jewelry, a handbag, a watch, a painting, and a gold figurine [3, 4, 5].
Kim was found guilty of receiving high-value gifts including precious metals, jewelry, luxury handbags, watches, paintings, and other valuables from a range of sources such as businessmen, politicians, pastors, and former prosecutors [2, 3, 4]. These gifts included a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, Tiffany brooch, Graff earrings, a Dior handbag, a Vacheron Constantin watch valued at about 39 million won, a gold turtle figurine, and a painting by Lee Ufan [2, 3, 4, 5].
The total estimated value of the bribes she accepted reached around 300 million won (approximately $195,000) [4, 6]. Those who offered bribes included a construction magnate, a pastor, a former university head, a politician, and an entrepreneur in the robotic dog industry [3, 5].
The court stated Kim “severely undermined public trust and fairness in government appointments by accepting bribes and facilitating private interests” and noted she “unhesitatingly accepted valuables of a kind that the average citizen would struggle to acquire even once in a lifetime” [2, 3, 4, 5, 7]. Lead judge Cho Sun-pyo said Kim “exercised her power as first lady to offer jobs and business favours” and “received the bribes without hesitation” [5].
Prosecutors had requested a 7.5-year prison sentence during the final hearing on May 15 but the court imposed a slightly lighter sentence of seven years [2, 8, 9, 10, 11]. Kim was already serving a four-year prison term for earlier charges of stock manipulation and bribery [2, 12, 5].
Her husband, former president Yoon Suk Yeol, was ousted in 2025 and sentenced to life in prison for insurrection related to a failed attempt to impose martial law [3, 5].
Kim has denied the charges, claiming the gifts were received without any requests for favors, and her lawyers said they would appeal the ruling [2, 3, 5].
