Yoon Suk Yeol, who was sentenced to two years in prison for receiving free polling services from political broker Myung Tae-kyun, will have his appeal hearing next month.
According to legal sources on July 25, the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 7, led by Chief Judge Koo Hoe-geun, has scheduled the first hearing for Yoon's appeal on August 21.
Yoon's legal team submitted the appeal to the Seoul Central District Court on July 14, arguing that the lower court misinterpreted the facts and the law, leading to an unjust sentence. They are expected to contest the factual misinterpretation, legal misunderstandings, and the severity of the sentence during the appeal.
Myung, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison and taken into custody during the first trial, also filed an appeal on the same day. He will face the appeal court alongside Yoon.
Yoon is accused of conspiring with his spouse, Kim Geon-hee, to receive 58 free polling services from Myung between June 2021 and March 2022.
On July 13, the first trial court ruled that Yoon received 14 polling services for free, sentencing him to two years in prison and ordering him to pay a fine of 13.96 million won. The court found that there was an implicit agreement between Yoon, his spouse, and Myung regarding the conduct and provision of the polling services. It concluded that even without a prior agreement, Yoon exerted influence in favor of former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun as a form of compensation. However, the court determined that the remaining 44 polling services could not be definitively linked to an agreement with Yoon and his spouse since they were not directly provided by Myung.
Meanwhile, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who is accused of receiving polling services and having the costs covered by a supporter, was fined 10 million won in a first trial on July 22. He has also filed an appeal following the ruling.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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