[E-Daily Reporter Choi Oh-hyun ] The Supreme Court has decided to broadcast live the ruling in the appeal trial regarding Mrs. Kim Geon-hee’s stock price manipulation case involving DEUTSCH MOTORS INC.(067990), after postponing the announcement of the verdict.

According to legal circles on the 15th, the Second Division of the Supreme Court (Presiding Justice Kwon Young-jun) will live-stream the verdict in First Lady Kim’s case—involving charges of violating the Capital Markets Act and other offenses—scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on the 24th. This follows the Special Prosecutor’s Office submitting an application to the Supreme Court on the 13th requesting permission to broadcast the trial, which the Supreme Court granted. This case marks the first final Supreme Court ruling in First Lady Kim’s legal proceedings.

The Supreme Court will hear and issue a final ruling on three charges against Mrs. Kim: △alleged involvement in stock price manipulation at DEUTSCH MOTORS INC.; △accepting a free opinion poll from Mr. Myung Tae-kyun; and △accepting money and valuables related to the Unification Church.

The trial court found her guilty only of some of the charges related to the Unification Church and sentenced her to one year and eight months in prison. However, the appellate court overturned the first-instance ruling on all Unification Church-related charges and found her partially guilty on the DEUTSCH MOTORS INC. charges, sentencing her to four years in prison and a fine of 50 million won. However, both the first and appellate courts found her not guilty of violating the Political Funds Act by accepting free opinion polls from political broker Myung Tae-kyun during the presidential election.

However, controversy arose as the Criminal Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jin-gwan)—which served as the first-instance court for former President Yoon Suk-yeol and Mr. Myung, who were indicted on the same charges—found them guilty and sentenced them to prison terms on the 13th, resulting in directly conflicting conclusions between the courts regarding the same charges. Furthermore, Criminal Division 33 also ruled that Mrs. Kim was a co-principal offender.

Consequently, the special prosecution team submitted a request to the Supreme Court the previous day asking to postpone Mrs. Kim’s sentencing date, and the Supreme Court postponed the sentencing, originally scheduled for the 16th, to the 24th. In its petition, the special prosecution team emphasized that the two rulings conflict on numerous issues—including the elements 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 stressed, “If the Supreme Court issues a ruling immediately without fully reviewing these matters, there is a risk of contradictions and conflicts arising between the lower court’s ruling and the appellate court’s judgment.”

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s ruling on former President Yoon’s appeal regarding charges of “obstruction of arrest, etc.” was also broadcast live on the Supreme Court’s website on the 9th. Former President Yoon’s seven-year prison sentence was upheld.