Justice in Lee election law case to handle Kim Keon Hee appeal... first Supreme Court review

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[Financial News] The Supreme Court of Korea has assigned the appeal case of Kim Keon Hee, who was convicted in the second trial over allegations including stock manipulation involving Deutsche Motors, to a panel of justices. Observers say this case is likely to be the first among the cases involving Kim to receive a Supreme Court ruling.
According to the legal community on the 26th, the Supreme Court assigned Kim's case, which includes charges of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, to its Second Division that day. The panel consists of Justices Oh Kyung-mi, Kwon Young-jun, Eom Sang-pil and Park Young-jae, with Park serving as the presiding justice. Park, 57, also handled the key opinion in the appeal of President Lee Jae-myung's Public Official Election Act case, which was sent back for a retrial last year after the conviction was overturned.
Kim is accused of colluding with former Deutsche Motors chairman Kwon Oh-soo and others around 2010 to 2012 to take part in stock price manipulation through practices such as high-price buying, fake orders and matched trading, and of gaining about 810 million won in illicit profits.
She is also accused of conspiring with Jeon Seong-bae, known as a shaman, between April and July 2022 to receive a Graff necklace, Chanel bags and other items from the Unification Church in exchange for favors. In addition, she was charged with receiving free public opinion polls worth about 270 million won from political broker Myung Tae-kyun.
The first trial found her guilty only of the Unification Church bribery charge and sentenced her to one year and eight months in prison. The appeals court, however, added guilty findings on some of the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation allegations that had been acquitted in the first trial, as well as on the charge of soliciting favors in connection with the Chanel bags, and increased the sentence to four years in prison.
However, both the first and second trials upheld acquittals on the allegation involving free opinion polls from Myung.
Kim's side filed an appeal on the 30th, two days after the appeals court ruling, and the Kim Keon Hee Special Prosecutor Team, led by Special Counsel Min Joung-kie, also submitted its appeal on the 4th.
The Kim Keon-hee Special Counsel Act requires the appeals court and the Supreme Court to issue rulings within three months of the previous verdict. Under that rule, the deadline for the Supreme Court ruling is July 28.
Still, given the issues in the case and the volume of records, it remains uncertain whether a ruling can actually be delivered by then.
 
scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter