Former President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives at Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu on July 13 for the first-instance sentencing hearing in his case involving allegations that he received free polling services from political broker Myung Tae-kyun. [Yonhap]
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives at Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu on July 13 for the first-instance sentencing hearing in his case involving allegations that he received free polling services from political broker Myung Tae-kyun. [Yonhap]

The appeal trial of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was sentenced to two years in prison at the first instance for allegedly receiving free polling services from political broker Myung Tae-kyun, is set to begin next month.

Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 7, presided over by Chief Judge Gu Hoe-geun, will hold the first appellate hearing on Aug. 21 to re-examine the facts of the case, its legal interpretation and the sentencing. Myung, who was sentenced to prison and taken into custody in the courtroom in the same case, will also stand trial at the appellate level. Attention is focused on how the appeals court will reconcile the first-instance ruling with the separate acquittals handed down to first lady Kim Keon Hee on the same charges.

At the first appellate hearing, Yoon's legal team is expected to argue that the lower court misread the facts, misapplied the law and imposed an excessive sentence. Myung, who received a sentence of one year and six months and was taken into custody in the courtroom at the first instance, will face the appeals court alongside Yoon.

Yoon was indicted on charges that he conspired with his wife, Kim Keon Hee, to receive 58 rounds of polling services free of charge from Myung between June 2021 and March 2022.

On July 13, the first-instance court found Yoon guilty on 14 of the charged counts of receiving free polling services and sentenced him to two years in prison along with a forfeiture order of about 13.96 million won ($10,100).

The court found that there had been an implicit "meeting of minds" between the Yoon couple and Myung regarding the conduct and provision of the polling, and that even without a prior explicit agreement, Yoon had exercised his influence to secure a People Power Party nomination for former lawmaker Kim Young-sun as a form of reciprocation.

However, the court ruled that the remaining 44 rounds of polling could not be conclusively determined to have been provided pursuant to an agreement with the couple, as Myung had not delivered them directly.

The ruling drew attention because it directly contradicted the outcomes in Kim Keon Hee's separate trial on the same charges, in which she was acquitted at both the first and second instances.

The courts in Kim's case found that Myung had unilaterally provided the polling services — without prior request or consultation — to promote his own polling firm, Mirae Hanguk Research Institute, or to expand his political influence, and acquitted her on that basis.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court postponed its ruling in Kim Keon Hee's political funds law case — originally scheduled for the following day — reassigning it to the full bench and leaving the new hearing date unset. Such a postponement means the date is changed without a new date being immediately designated.

The Supreme Court ruling in Kim's case had originally been set for July 16, but was pushed back once to Friday after the special prosecution team led by special prosecutor Min Joong-ki requested a delay.


th5@heraldcorp.com