[E-Daily Reporter BAEK JU-A ] The Supreme Court has postponed the ruling on the appeal in the case involving First Lady Kim Geon-hee—accused of stock price manipulation related to DEUTSCH MOTORS INC.(067990) —from the 16th to the 24th. The court accepted the request to postpone the ruling, filed the previous day by the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Kim Geon-hee (led by Special Prosecutor Min Jung-ki), just one day later.

According to legal circles on the 15th, the Supreme Court announced that day, “The date for the ruling in the Capital Markets Act violation case has been changed to 2:00 p.m. on Friday, the 24th.”

Originally, the Second Division of the Supreme Court (Presiding Justice Park Young-jae) had been scheduled to deliver its verdict at 10:15 a.m. on the 16th regarding Mrs. Kim’s charges of violating the Capital Markets Act (stock price manipulation involving DEUTSCH MOTORS INC.), violating the Political Funds Act (accepting a free opinion poll from Mr. Myung Tae-kyun), and brokerage bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (accepting money and valuables from the Unification Church).

The special prosecution team submitted a request to the Supreme Court the previous day asking for the sentencing date to be postponed. This followed the first-instance ruling on the 13th by Criminal Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jin-gwan) in the case involving former President Yoon Suk-yeol and political broker Myung Tae-kyun for violations of the Political Funds Act, in which the two were sentenced to two years and one year and six months in prison, respectively, and taken into custody immediately.

This case deals with the same factual circumstances as First Lady Kim’s alleged violation of the Political Funds Act (the provision of free opinion polls from June 2021 to March 2022). However, the first-instance court stated that “there was a sequential and tacit convergence of intent between the Yoon Suk-yeol couple and Myung Tae-kyun,” thereby recognizing them as joint principal offenders. This conclusion directly contradicts the ruling in First Lady Kim’s case, in which she was acquitted of the same charges in both the first and second trials.

In its petition, the special counsel’s team argued that the two rulings conflicted on numerous issues—including the requirements and purpose of providing free opinion polls, the convergence of intent between Mrs. Kim and Mr. Myung, and the conspiracy between Mrs. Kim and former President Yoon—and stated, “If the Supreme Court issues a ruling immediately without fully reviewing these matters, there is a risk of contradictions and conflicts arising between the judgments of the lower courts.” The fact that the Supreme Court has now postponed the ruling date suggests that the special counsel’s arguments have been accepted to some extent.

Accordingly, Mrs. Kim is scheduled to appear at the Supreme Court at 2:00 p.m. on the 24th to face charges related to her involvement in the DEUTSCH MOTORS INC. stock price manipulation (October 2010–December 2012, involving unjust enrichment of 810 million won), accepting free opinion polls from Mr. Myung Tae-kyun (June 2021–March 2022, worth 270 million won), and accepting money and gifts related to the Unification Church (April–July 2022, including a Graff diamond necklace and a Chanel bag worth 82 million won).

In the first trial, Mrs. Kim was found partially guilty only of the charge of accepting bribes from the Unification Church and sentenced to one year and eight months in prison. In the second trial, the court overturned the first-instance ruling, finding her fully guilty of that charge and partially guilty of the DEUTSCH MOTORS INC. charge, sentencing her to four years in prison and a fine of 50 million won. However, she was acquitted of the charges related to Mr. Myung Tae-kyun’s opinion poll in both the first and second trials. The special prosecution team had sought a 15-year prison sentence for Mrs. Kim in both the first and second trials.