Supreme Court's Second Division assigned to hear Yoon's polling case appeal

The Supreme Court has assigned a panel and presiding justice to hear the final appeal in the case of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who faces charges of receiving free polling services from political broker Myung Tae-kyun. The central question is whether Yoon's acquittal on Political Funds Act violation charges — which overturned a lower court conviction — will stand.

The Supreme Court assigned the case Monday to its Second Division, with Justice Kim Seong-su serving as the presiding justice. The Second Division is composed of Kim along with Justices Kwon Young-jun, Park Young-jae and Oh Kyung-mi.

The key issue in the appeal is expected to be whether the polling results Myung provided free of charge to Yoon and his wife constitute a financial benefit under the Political Funds Act.

Yoon is accused of conspiring with his wife, Kim Keon Hee, to receive 58 rounds of polling from Myung at no cost between June 2021 and March 2022, with the services valued at approximately 270 million won ($199,000).

Earlier, the trial court found Yoon guilty in July on charges related to 14 of the 58 polling instances, sentencing him to two years in prison and ordering the forfeiture of about 13.96 million won. The court determined that Yoon, Kim Keon Hee and Myung had reached a sequential and implicit agreement on the provision of the polling services, and found that Kim Keon Hee was a co-principal in the receipt of political funds.

The appellate court reversed that ruling on Oct. 7, acquitting both Yoon and Myung. The panel found that what Yoon and his wife received from Myung amounted to no more than political benefits — such as advice on public opinion trends and introductions to influential politicians — and that the polling results had merely served as a tool or basis for that political advice rather than constituting a financial benefit in their own right. The court also found insufficient evidence of any agreement to provide the polling free of charge.

Kim Keon Hee was acquitted at both the trial and appellate levels on the charges related to receiving the free polling services. The Supreme Court referred her case — encompassing the so-called "three allegations" of Deutsch Motors share price manipulation, receipt of gifts from the Unification Church, and the free polling from Myung — to its full bench in July for deliberation.