The judge who sentenced South Korea’s former first lady to four years in prison for corruption was found dead this week at the Seoul High Court building, police confirmed, casting a shadow over a case that has already consumed the country’s political elite and laid bare the deepest scandals to grip the presidency in recent memory.
Shin Jong-o was discovered unconscious and later pronounced dead at a hospital, an investigator at Seocho district police station said. Although local media reported that Shin had left a note, the investigator said none was found.
There is no sign of foul play in the death, the investigator said. Shin’s bereaved family is stricken by the incident and has requested privacy, police added.
Shin presided over the appellate trial of Kim Keon Hee, 53, the wife of impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol, and authored the ruling that nearly doubled her sentence. It was Shin who declared from the bench that Kim had failed to acknowledge her culpability and had instead consistently resorted to excuses — words that now resonate through a case still moving toward South Korea’s highest court.
A Sentence Doubled on Appeal
Judges at the Seoul High Court increased Kim’s prison term from 20 months to four years, overturning a lower court’s acquittal on stock manipulation charges and reaffirming her conviction for accepting bribes from the Unification Church. The court also imposed a 50 million won fine and ordered the confiscation of a Graff diamond necklace.
“The court sentences the defendant to four years in prison and imposes a 50 million won fine,” the bench announced in a televised verdict, according to the appellate ruling.
The appellate panel concluded that Kim had participated in manipulating the price of thinly traded shares in Deutsch Motors alongside multiple traders. The judges also found she knew the Unification Church — which delivered roughly 80 million won in gifts between April and July 2022 — expected political favors for its overseas business in return.
She damaged public trust in government transparency and caused a rift in public opinion over national affairs, the lead judge said.
The initial judgment had sentenced Kim to 20 months when Judge Woo In-sung at the Seoul Central District Court convicted her of accepting two Chanel handbags and a diamond pendant from the Unification Church. That court had cleared her of the more serious stock manipulation charge and of receiving free opinion polls from a political broker, citing insufficient evidence. Prosecutors, who had sought a 15-year term, appealed. So did Kim.
Her lawyers said they would appeal to the Supreme Court. The appellate court did clear Kim of separate charges of breaching election law, though it upheld a finding that she illegally backed a candidate in a 2022 by-election.
A Couple Convicted Together
The ruling made Kim and Yoon the first former presidential couple in South Korean history convicted at the same time. Yoon was initially sentenced to five years for abusing power and obstructing justice tied to his December 2024 martial law declaration. In a separate case, he was handed a life sentence. Prosecutors are separately pursuing the death penalty against him on insurrection charges. A former prime minister was found guilty of insurrection and sentenced to 23 years.
Yoon was formally removed from office and faces a cascade of trials. He has appealed his convictions, insisting he acted in the country’s interest and accusing his political opponents of collusion.
Kim’s fall from power has been swift and unsparing. She has been jailed since she was arrested on warrant, and made a public apology when she appeared for questioning.
I am truly sorry that a nobody like me has caused concern to the people, she said at the time.
From Blue House to Prison Cell
The scandals trailing Kim predate her husband’s downfall. Hidden camera footage of Kim accepting a luxury Dior handbag surfaced in 2023, eroding the standing of Yoon, who had won the presidency the previous year. The fallout helped tip the April 2024 general elections against his People Power Party. The opposition then advanced three bills demanding investigations into Kim’s conduct. Yoon vetoed each of them. His final veto came in November 2024, a week before he stunned the country by declaring martial law.
Sookmyung Women’s University annulled the art education degree Kim received in 1999, after an ethics panel concluded she had plagiarized her master’s thesis. Investigations into her dealings with the Unification Church also led to the arrest of church leader Han Hak-ja, who has denied directing the organization to bribe Kim.
Outside the Seoul High Court on the day of the appellate ruling, a small group of loyalists gathered with banners and scarves bearing slogans such as “Yoon, again” and “Make Korea Great Again,” echoing the rhetoric of President Trump that Yoon’s supporters have increasingly adopted.
Kim’s trajectory caps a stunning reversal of fortune for a woman who once held court alongside her husband at the presidential residence — and deepens a national reckoning over the couple now widely blamed for the country’s gravest recent constitutional crisis.