'Bi-seon Silse' Choi Seo-won Sentenced to 18 Years and Fined 20 Billion Won... Ahn Jong-beom Sentenced to 4 Years

Choi Soon-sil, the 'shadowy power' of the Park Geun-hye administration who received a heavy sentence of 20 years in prison in the first trial for the state corruption scandal, is seen on the morning of June 15 last year getting off the transport vehicle and heading to the courtroom at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, for the continuation of the appeal trial. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil), the main culprit in the 'state affairs manipulation' scandal during the Park Geun-hye administration, has been finally sentenced to 18 years in prison.

The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Ahn Cheol-sang) on the morning of the 11th upheld the previous ruling sentencing Choi to 18 years in prison, a fine of 20 billion KRW, and a confiscation of 6.33676 billion KRW on charges including abuse of power and obstruction of the exercise of rights.

Former Blue House Policy Coordination Secretary Ahn Jong-beom, who was tried alongside Choi, also had his sentence of 4 years in prison, a fine of 60 million KRW, and confiscation of 19.9 million KRW confirmed.

The court stated regarding the appeals by Choi and former Secretary Ahn, who opposed the original ruling after the case was remanded, that "the matters have already acquired finality and cannot be disputed further, thus they do not constitute valid grounds for appeal."

Accordingly, the trials of Choi and former Secretary Ahn, key figures in the state affairs manipulation scandal, have come to a close for now. Choi, who was first indicted in November 2016, received the Supreme Court's final verdict on this day, 1,300 days later, and will serve a long-term sentence in detention.

Choi was indicted on charges including abuse of power and obstruction of the exercise of rights for conspiring with former President Park Geun-hye and former Secretary Ahn to coerce member companies of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) to donate 77.4 billion KRW to the Mir and K-Sports Foundations.

She was also accused of conspiring with former President Park to receive hundreds of billions of KRW in bribes from Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, including support for her daughter Jung Yoo-ra's equestrian training, foundation donations, and funding for the Korea Winter Sports Gifted Center.

The first trial sentenced Choi to 20 years in prison, a fine of 18 billion KRW, and confiscation of over 7.2 billion KRW. The second trial maintained the 20-year prison sentence but increased the fine to 20 billion KRW, while reducing the confiscation to over 7 billion KRW.

However, last year, the Supreme Court remanded the case to the Seoul High Court, ruling that some of the charges against Choi should be acquitted. It judged that the demand for gifted center support from Vice Chairman Lee and Samsung could not be considered coercion.

Following the Supreme Court's remand, the retrial reduced Choi's sentence to 18 years in prison, maintained the fine at 20 billion KRW, and lowered the confiscation to approximately 6.3 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.