Supreme Court to livestream Kim Keon Hee ruling on July 24

The Supreme Court will livestream its ruling in the appeals case against Kim Keon Hee, which covers allegations of Deutsch Motors share-price manipulation, acceptance of gifts from the Unification Church and receipt of polling services from political operative Myung Tae-kyun.

The Supreme Court's Second Division, presided over by Justice Kwon Young-jun with Justice Park Young-jae as the lead reviewing judge, announced Wednesday that it will broadcast the sentencing hearing live, scheduled for 2 p.m. on July 24.

This will be the second time a small-bench ruling has been livestreamed. The first was Thursday, when the court broadcast the appeals hearing in former President Yoon Suk-yeol's case involving charges of obstructing the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials' arrest operations, among others.

The court accepted a broadcast permission request filed Monday by the special prosecutor's team. The hearing will be transmitted live to broadcasters using the court's own equipment.

The sentencing had originally been set for Thursday but was pushed back to July 24 after the special prosecutor's team successfully requested a postponement. The team filed the postponement request Tuesday, asking the court to review the written ruling by Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Division 33, presided over by Judge Lee Jin-gwan, which found former President Yoon guilty of receiving free polling services from Myung and sentenced him to two years in prison.

Kim faces charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes for allegedly accepting a Graf diamond necklace worth 62 million won ($41,500) and two Chanel handbags worth a combined 20 million won from Yoon Young-ho, former head of the Unification Church's world headquarters, through Buddhist monk Jeon Seong-bae between April and July 2022, in exchange for lobbying on behalf of the church.

She also faces charges of violating the Capital Markets Act for allegedly participating in a scheme to manipulate Deutsch Motors' share price between October 2010 and December 2012, reaping 810 million won in illicit gains, and of violating the Political Funds Act for allegedly conspiring with former President Yoon to receive polling results worth 270 million won from Myung between June 2021 and March 2022.

The first-instance court found her guilty only on part of the Unification Church gift charges and sentenced her to one year and eight months in prison. The second-instance court reversed that verdict, finding her guilty on all counts and also partially guilty on the Deutsch Motors share-price manipulation charges, raising the sentence to four years in prison and a fine of 50 million won. However, it upheld the first-instance court's not-guilty finding on the charge of receiving polling services from Myung.