'Geonjin Beopsa' Jeon Sung-bae's 5-year prison term confirmed for soliciting favors from Unification Church on behalf of Kim Keon Hee

The Supreme Court has upheld a five-year prison sentence against Jeon Sung-bae, a Buddhist monk known by the title "Geonjin Beopsa," who was convicted of conspiring with Kim Keon Hee, wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, to receive requests and gifts from the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, commonly known as the Unification Church.

The Supreme Court's Third Division, presided over by Justice Noh Gyeong-pil, confirmed Thursday the lower court's ruling sentencing Jeon to five years in prison on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes — specifically brokerage corruption — and the Political Funds Act.

The court found no errors in the lower court's reasoning, saying it had not exceeded the bounds of free evaluation of evidence by violating the rules of logic and experience, nor had it misapplied the legal standards concerning "persons engaged in political activities" or "political funds" under the Political Funds Act. The court also said the lower court had conducted the necessary deliberations and had not misread the law on the principles of non ultra petita, amendment of indictment, the definition of "solicitation" under the aggravated brokerage corruption charge, criminal intent, or joint principal offenders.

The special prosecutor's team investigating Kim Keon Hee, led by Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki, indicted Jeon on the grounds that he received requests from Yoon Young-ho, the former head of the Unification Church's world headquarters, regarding the church's pending issues between April and July 2022, and delivered to Kim items worth about 80 million won ($53,000) — including a Chanel bag and a Graff diamond necklace. Jeon also faces charges of receiving 30 million won while demanding an advisory position at Tongil Group.

Jeon is also accused of receiving about 45 million won between July 2022 and January last year in connection with soliciting and brokering matters related to a tax investigation and criminal complaint involving Company A, and about 160 million won between September 2022 and October 2023 for soliciting and brokering business promotion matters on behalf of Company B.

The special prosecutor's team also applied charges under the Political Funds Act, alleging that Jeon received 100 million won in illegal political funds from Park Chang-wook, a North Gyeongsang Province assembly member, in connection with candidate nominations for the eighth nationwide local elections in 2022.

The trial court sentenced Jeon to six years in prison. The appellate court reduced that to five years, finding him guilty on the brokerage corruption charges as the trial court had, but acquitting him on the Political Funds Act violation. The trial court had ruled that Jeon's mid-trial change of testimony, partial admission of charges, and submission of evidence such as the Chanel bag did not qualify as grounds for a mandatory sentence reduction under the special prosecutor act. The appellate court accepted them as such and cut his sentence by one year.