Kim Keon-hee was sentenced to five years in prison on appeal in an influence-peddling case, two years less than the seven-year term imposed at first instance after the Seoul High Court reversed part of the earlier guilty verdict.
The appellate court on Tuesday upheld core findings that Kim received valuable items in connection with requests for favors, but acquitted her on two of the five alleged transactions. Korean reporting says the court did not find that a Vacheron Constantin watch and a replica of the painting Sehando had been given in return for solicitations. The reduced scope of the conviction also lowered the amount ordered forfeited or collected.
The appeal narrowed what the court found proved
The ruling changes both the sentence and the factual boundaries of a politically prominent corruption case. The first-instance court had accepted all five allegations. The appeal court instead distinguished among the items and requests, leaving a five-year prison term while narrowing the conduct for which Kim was held criminally responsible.
The judgment is an appellate ruling rather than the end of the legal process. Further appeal remains possible, and any higher-court review would focus on the legal and evidentiary findings that survived or were reversed on Tuesday. Until then, the five-year sentence and the revised forfeiture findings are the operative result of the second-instance trial.
The case is separate from political arguments surrounding Kim and the former administration. The court's decision establishes what the appellate panel found proved in this prosecution; it does not by itself resolve other allegations or cases involving her.