A South Korean appellate court has increased the prison sentence of Kim Keon-hee, wife of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, to four years for corruption.

The Seoul High Court overturned the lower court ruling, raising her sentence from 20 months to four years and imposing a fine of 50 million won (about $33,910).

An independent counsel team led by Min Joong-ki sought a 15-year jail term during both the initial trial and the appeal.

The court found Ms Kim guilty of participating in stock price manipulation and receiving valuables from officials of the Unification Church.

Her legal team said it would challenge the ruling at the Supreme Court.

Ms Kim was accused of receiving valuables from Unification Church officials in 2022 in exchange for favourable treatment of the group.

She was also charged with violating the Capital Markets Act by making illicit gains through stock manipulation between October 2010 and December 2012.

In addition, she faced charges under the Political Funds Act for allegedly conspiring with Yoon to obtain illegal public opinion poll results free of charge from a political broker on 58 occasions ahead of the 2022 presidential election.

Ms Kim, who was indicted under detention in August 2025, became the first wife of a former South Korean president to be tried in custody.

She was also separately indicted for allegedly requesting mass enrolment of Unification Church members into the People Power Party to support a candidate during the party’s national convention.

She further faces charges of accepting valuables in exchange for business favours and involvement in the sale of public offices.

(Xinhua/NAN)