Photo : YONHAP News
A special counsel team investigating former first lady Kim Keon-hee has sought a two-year prison sentence for former President Yoon Suk Yeol, whom it has accused of publicly misrepresenting his relations with a shaman.
Prosecutors made the request to the Seoul Central District Court on Monday during the final hearing in Yoon’s trial for violating the Public Official Election Act.
The special counsel argued Kim had introduced Yoon to shaman Jeon Seong-bae and that the three had a close relationship, but that Yoon falsely claimed in a January 2022 interview to have been introduced to the shaman through a party official.
Yoon also stands accused of covering up the fact that he’d introduced a lawyer to the brother of his close aide Yoon Dae-jin in December 2021.
Prosecutors believe these statements quieted various suspicions about his activities, helping maintain his status as a presidential frontrunner.
In March 2022, Yoon was elected South Korea’s 20th president by the narrowest margin in its constitutional history.
The Seoul court is set to issue a verdict on July 27.
If Yoon is fined at least one million won, or roughly 652 U.S. dollars, the main opposition People Power Party will have to repay the National Election Commission nearly 40 billion won in election expenses.